Flower in the Mist
by Kiri-tan
Summary: Imagine if things were at least slightly different for Naruto, if - for example - someone was willing to be friends with him very early on... How changed would his story be? AU; Original Character
1. Prologue

Heylo everyone! Thanks for coming to have a look at the opening of my newly-posted story 'Flower in the Mist'. I've been working on it for over a year now and have editted the first few chapters to death, but I would like to apologise for the slightly stiff (only way I can think of to describe it) writing style: as I said, I've been working on it for a long time and, back when I started, I wrote differently to how I do now.

Oh, another warning. This has an original character. In this universe, Haruno Sakura was never born - doesn't exist whatsoever. The whole premise of this story is that I was fed up of how pathetic and useless Sakura was (in part one of Naruto, although she sometimes still is in part two). I didn't like how the female of the team was, quite frankly, the weakling. That didn't sit right with me. That frustration was what gave birth to this story and one Yuhara Kasumi.

I will warn you that I have used some romaji/Japanese in it - and apologise for it as well. This does include honorific suffixes. If there are any phrases or words that you don't understand, there is a glossary at the bottom.

Now I hope that you will enjoy your reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and sadly never will.

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><p><span>Flower in the Mist<span>

Prologue

The bell was ringing; the day was ended. As children filed out of the door, Iruka picked up his pen and started to work through the papers on his desk, only pausing and waving farewell whenever a pupil said goodbye to him.

He heard them, shouting and laughing in the playground as they ran to meet their parents, and smiled almost wistfully, shaking his head. At times like those, he often was torn between feeling envious and feeling remorseful. Envious of his students' innocence and regret that it would be one of the things that they would lose all too quickly when faced with the reality of what their chosen path really entailed.

Lost in his thoughts, he never truly paid attention to niggling feeling of being watched until the soft rustle of clothing pulled him back to the present. Glancing up, he noticed one of his students, a girl with hair of a similar colour as the lesser periwinkle (_It looks almost white with the light shining on it,_ mused Iruka), hadn't left with the others and was standing a metre or so from his desk.

"Ano sa, Umino-sensei…?" She asked quietly, "I-I wanted to ask you something."

He smiled kindly at her, his dark eyes warm, "Hai, Kasumi-chan? What is it?"

"I was wondering if… What I mean is that I'm not good at Taijutsu and Ninjutsu – I really need to improve," Kasumi took a deep breath here before continuing. "S-so, I was hoping that perhaps you could… _tutor_ me, I guess, a-after classes. If it's alright with you of course, Umino-sensei."

Iruka wondered what had pushed her to make such a request – not because she was proud and believed that she didn't need help, but because she was the quiet kind of person who could work through things alone with almost endless patience and determination. He had seen her training most days after school, pushing herself hard.

He was about to give his answer when she blurted out, panicked, "I-I can give you money! I mean, Sandaime-sama was very kind and lets me help him with some of his paperwork and errands. He pays me, and I know I'm asking you to give up your free time, so…" She trailed off and started to chew her bottom lip, looking askance.

Iruka looked at her, masking the consternation in his eyes after a moment and replied, "You don't need to _pay_ me, Kasumi-chan. You're my pupil, I'd be happy to help you better yourself." He then added when she looked at him, disbelief written all over her face, "It's no trouble at all. Really."

"Sumimasen, Umino-sensei. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu," Kasumi bowed and then, nervously fiddling with the hem of her top, addressed the floor with her next question, "C-could we start today…?"

Iruka briefly glanced at the papers that he was marking. But he gave a minute shake of his head in their direction and stood up. "Alright," he said, "Race you to the training yard?"

Kasumi smiled, running out of the classroom door, whereas Iruka took the window out.

* * *

><p>They didn't do much that day. Iruka made her warm up for twenty minutes – running around the track, press-ups, sit ups, squats and stretches. He also taught her an exercise called a 'Thai crunch'.<p>

"You see, it's not too hard to do crunches. However, what makes this one different is that someone hits your stomach after it's fully tightened. I won't punch hard, don't worry," He grinned at her. "All this does is it conditions your core to take hits. Although, you're trying _not_ to get hit in real life, of course."

Soon, when he deemed her to be ready, he asked her to demonstrate what she knew. It was just the basics that he had taught his class although she threw in what seemed to be a few improvisations of her own. He noted that, while she was quite swift (for an academy student), her sleeves and the ends of her trouser legs didn't really 'snap' when she did her strikes. _Obviously lacking power and strength… But at least when she develops the latter, the former will improve as well._

So, rather than teaching her what she already knew, he taught her some martial arts – mainly Judo and Karate. It was only basics, just enough for a first day and for her to go over on her own. He taught her how to land properly (she had to throw herself off of some steps and tuck her head into her chest before she hit the ground), how to throw someone by using their momentum against them, basic kicks, strikes and blocks.

He also taught her some of the finer points of chakra control and gave her tips on how to improve the techniques that she was already familiar with. He gave her a few scrolls to take with her, containing simple offensive and defensive jutsu.

An hour and a half later, they called it a day and Kasumi bowed gratefully and thanked Iruka again and again, before running off to the Hokage tower. _I'm not late yet but if I don't hurry, I soon will be._

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><p>She slowed as she approached the tower; catching her breath and letting the chill, early evening air cool her down. She bowed her head to the receptionist inside as she walked by and then knocked on the door of the Hokage's office.<p>

"Come in," she heard Sarutobi say.

She opened the door and peeked in around it, a faint smile gracing her lips.

"K-konbanwa Hokage-sama. I'm here to help you again. Sorry I'm almost late, I was a little busy."

"Ah, Kasumi-chan," he replied, smiling, "It's good to see you." And, noticing the healthy flush of her cheeks, he added, "You're looking very well."

"Ah, arigato gozaimasu… Eto, I hope that I find you well, Sandaime-sama," she stepped inside and shut the door behind her, sitting down on a seat next to his desk. She subsequently eyed all the papers on his desk and grimaced, mumbling to herself, "All that to sort?" _You never change, do you?_ She added as an unspoken afterthought

He felt a little embarrassed – the reproach had been clear in her voice – being admonished by someone over five decades his junior. But he chuckled and answered, "It is not too much work to do, is it?"

Kasumi merely smiled and shook her head, already reaching to start to sort through the piles of documents, organising them into smaller, categorised heaps. She worked quietly and efficiently, handing him some papers that required a signature whenever he seemed to run out of things to do.

Half an hour later, when he had even run out of files to sign, he started speaking to her again. She was grinning at a joke he had told her, when she was asked, "How's your father, Kasumi-chan?"

Her grin slipped slightly, the sudden emotions in her eyes carefully schooled into an unreadable emptiness. Then the grin was back and she responded, "He's fine. He wasn't f-feeling very well recently; s-so he hasn't been working as much."

_Understatement of the year. He was actually fired,_ she thought to herself, but she never voiced it. She didn't want to make the Hokage worry about her.

Except that he had noticed (it was quite obvious, really) that little slip and already knew about what had happened to her father, yet decided not to comment on it.

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><p>She was almost finished working when a little yellow and orange blur of excitement burst through the door. She immediately held onto the mounds at her feet tightly and looked up to see who it was. She recognised the boy from her class at the Academy, but couldn't quite recall the name, despite the fact that he made quite a striking figure and had a memorable face.<p>

He was going on about something or other at a rate of noughts and ended by declaring boisterously, "Take me out for ramen, jiji!"

She just blinked at the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy standing in front of the Hokage's desk; a finger jabbed at said man. Sarutobi was chortling to himself and then looked down at Kasumi, "Care to join us? It would be my treat. And don't worry," he said, looking at how much more organised she had made the place look, "I think you've done enough work today."

She considered for a moment and then nodded, "Okay." She stood up and shyly sidled up to the boy who was looking down at her through squinting eyes. She looked slightly nervous but bowed and whispered, "Eto… M-my name's Yuhara Kasumi. H-hajimemashite."

_Wait…_ The name suddenly came to her. _Naruto_.

He grinned up at her, almost painfully bright, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Pleased to meet'cha! One day I'm gonna kick this geezer out of that chair and become Hokage – so don't you forget it!"

The absurdity and unexpectedness of what he said caused her to laugh, a bright melodious sound. "Baka," she light-heartedly joked. He pouted and was away to shout out, "I'm not an idiot!" But, realising that she had said it teasingly and without a hint of malevolence (unlike the villagers), he merely grinned. She then soothed him in the same bright manner when she saw his blue eyes brimming with determination, "I'm sure you will."

_She seems like a good person,_ Naruto deemed and with that, he linked an arm through hers and skipped off to Teuchi's Ichiraku Ramen bar with her in tow.

"Try and keep up, ne jiji?" He cheekily called back prior to disappearing, leaving Hiruzen to grumble about 'kids these days'. He was, however, surprised at Kasumi's reaction to Naruto. She was usually such a reserved girl that her being so open with someone she had just met was an absolute shock. She had actually seemed normal, like most other children her age – joyous and without a care in the world. _Perhaps_ _being around Naruto will be good for her,_ he thought. The look in his eyes then turned sorrowful, _especially after…_

* * *

><p>Kasumi herself only had two bowls of ramen and looked on in barely concealed horror and amazement at Naruto, secretly impressed by how much he could eat.<p>

"How do you put it all away?" She gaped, prodding him in the side, unable to keep the awe out of her voice, "I mean you're so thin!"

The Third wasn't going to mention that that was because Naruto only really got a decent feed there – the shopkeepers and everyone else in town (much to his shame and disappointment) refused to give Naruto any decent produce for him to make a meal out of.

The rest of the evening was spent full of laughter and smiles, despite the foul glares that Kasumi noticed passers-by were directing at Naruto. She glared right back, hiding the slightly uneasy and alarmed feelings that were curdling her stomach. But when she turned back to pay attention to the story Naruto was telling, Sarutobi caught her eye and smiled appreciatively at her. Her gaze was searching and calculating (Do _you_ know what's going on there?); nevertheless she hesitantly returned the smile.

"Oi!" Naruto exclaimed, "Were you two even paying attention? I _said_…"

* * *

><p>Kasumi unlocked the front door of her home, took a deep breath and steeled herself before she stepped inside.<p>

"Tadaima," she murmured wearily. There was no answer, although that was to be expected. Glancing through the doorway of the living room, she saw her father passed out on the settee, several empty bottles of cheap alcohol littering the floor around his feet. A brief look of both disgust and sorrow passed over her features before she shook her head, retiring to her room, managing the stairs as quietly as she could.

She sat down on her bed, staring blankly into space. She had hoped that the pleasant atmosphere that had permeated the air earlier would follow her home, but of course it wouldn't. Not with her father always spending the majority of their money on getting drunk all the time.

But at least he was asleep – she didn't want to have to deal with him asking her where she had been. She silently made her way upstairs to her room, still thinking on her situation. No doubt if her answer hadn't been 'satisfactory' she, by the end, wouldn't have been able to attend the academy for at least two days whilst she healed. It was a reason to be thankful, anyhow.

Shaking her head to dispel such thoughts, she went over to her desk, sighing. _Speaking of the academy…_ She proceeded to finish a report that was to be handed in at the end of the week. And as she did so, she pretended that she didn't notice the single tear that glided down the curve of her cheek.

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><p><span>Glossary<span>

_Eto/Ano sa/Ano_: these little words are the equivalent of "ummm" or "uhhh" or any other noise that indicates hesitation.

_Sensei_: teacher or master

_Hai_: yes

_Sandaime-sama_: Lord Third (I always thought that sounded lame; I much prefer the Japanese way of saying it)

_Sumimasen_: can mean "I'm sorry" or "I recognise that this is inconvenient."

_Yoroshiku onegaishimasu_: this little phrase has a lot of meanings. Kasumi uses it meaning "I am in your debt" or "I am counting on you."

_Konbanwa_: good evening

_Arigato gozaimasu_: thank you very much

_Jiji_: a rather rude and disrespectful way to say "old man"

_Hajimemashite_: used when first meeting someone and introducing yourself to them. Generally translated to "how do you do?"

_Tadaima_: I'm back (home). The response to this would either be _okaerinasai_ or _okaeri._

Hope that was of some help to you! And thank you very much for taking the time to read the prologue! ^~^


	2. Chapter 1

Sorry this has taken so long to come out! I really meant to do it during the summer holidays - I'd get the chance to look over and edit it for the gazillionth time, and hopefully be satisfied with it, which clearly didn't happen. And then I didn't have any time afterwards, due to starting university. So I'm _really_ sorry, everyone, though I want to thank you for taking the time to read this new chapter.

Please feel free to point out any mistakes, or anywhere where you think I could improve upon the wording, etc. I wrote this chapter _aaaaaa_ges ago and, despite editing the feth out of it, I'm still not all that happy with it.

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I profess to owning Naruto... And theres no chance I ever will, either. :(

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><p><span>Chapter 1<span>

Five in the morning the following day saw Kasumi standing in front of the memorial stone, her breakfast onigiri on a container by her feet. She sighed, her fingers tracing the markings of one important name – her mother's.

At least once a week she would get up early just to spend time with her mum, eat breakfast with her and tell her anything significant – what her most recent school report was like, how she thought she did in a school test or if she'd made a new friend. However, if her father had been especially cruel, she usually visited the monument more than just once.

"_Okaasan, I miss you…_" She mouthed silently, taking one or two shuddering breaths to stop herself from crying. She cleared her throat, and whispered to the winds, "Dad hasn't been s-so bad lately. He still spends the majority of what little money we have on alcohol, and he- well, you already know… Eto, Umino-sensei is helping me with my studies; he's a good teacher, patient and helpful. I've been busy helping Sandaime-sama, and I met Uzumaki-kun yesterday," here she grinned. "He's hyper and fun; y-you would've liked him. I think we could be friends. At least, I hope so," she finished wistfully.

Seconds of silence flowed into minutes and her smile gradually faded to be replaced by a sad frown, "Although people in the village don't seem to like him. I mean, yesterday I caught several of them glaring at him with such _hatred_ that it was almost painful to see.

"What's even worse is," the frown on her face deepened, "I saw Umino-sensei looking at him so coldly, like everyone else… And I thought he was _nice._ Why do they hate him so much? How can they look at a _kid_ like that? I mean, he can't have possibly done anything to deserve it!" Her voice cracked, and she had to take a little while to calm her breathing and hold back tears. Then she whispered hoarsely, head bowed, "_Naze?_ I just, I don't understand it at all kaachan_…_"

She then sat down, with her back against the rock, and unwrapped the small package on top of the box that contained her lunch. "You know, I managed to make this all m-myself. I'm g-getting better, although I'm still not as good as you were…" She picked up the onigiri and murmured, "Itadakimasu."

Kasumi rested there for about half an hour, humming or faintly singing songs to herself and to all those names engraved upon the stone.

The sun was shining sleepily in the sky, having not long ago raised his head over the horizon. She looked at it, trying to gauge the time and stood up, sighing and brushing dirt off of her trousers.

"Gomen nasai mina-san," she stretched briefly, "I've got to get to school now."

Walking down the training field deep in thought, she never noticed the silver-haired shinobi walking towards her. It was only until it was too late (in her mind) that she realised she was on a collision course and tried to flip herself backwards. But, being a jōnin, he had already slid out of her way with liquid grace and envious ease and had caught her as well, one arm against her back, the other holding her shoulder to prevent her from making the manoeuvre.

She studied him, wondering why he wore a mask and hid one of his eyes. _War wounds, perhaps?_ She pondered. He was examining her too, less obviously though. He smiled at her, his dark eye curving upwards.

"Eto… A-ano sa, c-can you please l-let go of me now…?" She asked shyly, feeling somewhat on edge. He did as she asked, setting her on her feet.

"Of course. Watch yourself in future, ne?" He replied and suddenly he was standing a metre or so away from her. She gasped; she hadn't even seen or felt the movement!

"H-hai," she stared at him in awe, before bowing and continuing hurriedly on her way.

Kakashi stared after her for several seconds before striding up to the stone. _I wonder whom she was here for…_

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><p>Kasumi was still thinking about her encounter with the jōnin, when she was broken out of her reverie by a loud voice calling her name. She barely had an instant to turn and brace herself, when a bundle of blond energy collided with her. She managed to right herself after a second where she seemed about to fall over.<p>

"Ah, Uzumaki-kun…"

"Chigau! I've told you that it's Naruto! Na-ru-to! Being called 'Uzumaki' makes me twitch," he juddered to prove his point.

"Okay, okay – I get it!" She giggled, "Could you get off of me now, _Naruto_-kun?"

The first bell – the one that summoned the children inside – rang and both she and Naruto ran towards the door. They wove in between all the other children and were two of the first into the classroom.

"Kasumi-chan, over here!" He waved her over to a spot by the window, and she sat down next to him, taking out her books, homework and writing utensils.

Naruto spotted the scroll in her hand and blanched. "That assignment wasn't for today was it?" Iruka-sensei was going to kill him!

"No," she replied quietly, "it's to be handed in tomorrow, but…" She shrugged and walked down the class to put it on Iruka's desk. She had just sat down next to Naruto again when a certain brown-haired chūnin walked in.

"Good morning class! Now _today_, we shall be learning about…" Iruka called out, projecting his voice loud enough so that even pupils at the back could hear him. He walked over to the board, picked up a piece of chalk and started to write out notes and draw diagrams to illustrate some points. Kasumi diligently copied it all down, even though she was somewhat familiar with particular sections of the lesson.

A light snore from her left broke her concentration momentarily and she glanced up to see Naruto sleeping on the desk, his arms folded to form a pillow for his head. She sighed and – looking up to make sure Iruka hadn't noticed yet – prodded him in the side. He jolted awake and turned to glare and stick his tongue out at her.

"Pay attention," was all she muttered, looking down at her page once again. Naruto exhaled noisily but did begin to write something down.

* * *

><p>Lunch was two hours away when Iruka finally stopped writing – of course, he hadn't been writing the whole time; he had taught verbally and also made sure his class understood what he had taught by giving them several simple questions to answer.<p>

Kasumi was glad that he had stopped however. Even when he had just been speaking, she had copied down any point she considered relevant or even simply interesting. Twinges of pain were shooting from her hand down her arm, making her _almost_ regret writing so much.

"Now, today class we shall be revising Kawarimi no jutsu and the other techniques we have learnt so far. And after lunch, we shall be doing weapons practice, as well as taijutsu. If you'll all form an orderly line, we'll get outside and be able to enjoy the nice weather sooner, ne?"

Kasumi stood up, latched on to Naruto's arm and dragged him into the queue.

In the training yard, Iruka spoke to each pupil individually, asking him or her to demonstrate for him and then giving pointers on how they could improve. He then left them to practise as he went on to speak to someone else.

He left Naruto until last, and eventually went over to help him after he had dawdled for as long as he could. He asked the boy to show him the techniques they had learned and how he did them, letting out a quiet sigh when he saw just how hopeless the boy was.

"Naruto, stop playing around. These techniques aren't _that_ hard to do; just, take your time and try it again, okay?" Iruka said sternly.

Naruto scowled, biting back the desire to inform his teacher that he _wasn't_ messing around. Instead, he took several deep breaths, calming himself down so that concentrating would be easier. Moulding and gathering his chakra was a little difficult, even if he was focusing on it, as he couldn't really tell how much he would need. _Okay… Now!_

"Bunshin no jutsu!"

He took one glance at the clone he had created, and gnashed his teeth in frustration, for while it was indeed better than his previous attempt had been (as in, it wasn't collapsed on the floor), the improvement was only marginal.

Iruka just sighed again and bit out, "Naruto. I can't help you if you're not taking this training seriously! I'm here to give you help, but if you don't want it – finding your pranks a _much_ more wholesome way to spend your time – then fine." And with that, he walked off, leaving a sheepishly chuckling blonde behind.

Kasumi noticed the whole exchange and came over soon afterwards; before long she was training alongside Naruto, chatting very openly with him and laughing every now and again.

Iruka was, to say the least, rather shocked. Most of the kids, even those that spoke to Naruto, would prefer to avoid him whilst training (no doubt thinking he'd hold them back) and some laughed at him when he got things wrong. But here was someone, whom Iruka certainly hadn't seen spending a lot of time with Naruto before, quite willing to work next to him.

When Kasumi approached, she got the feeling that she'd have to play her cards just right. So she waved, "Hey Uzuma— Naruto-kun, c-could you help me with some of these techniques that we have to practise?"

She hoped that making him think, rather than that she was helping him, that he was helping her would make him more receptive to the idea of training together. And it worked.

"Sure, Kasumi-chan! What'cha stuck on?"

And so they trained – she would watch his technique when she asked him to demonstrate something, and then would give subtle hints and pointers, so subtle that he would then think they were his own idea in the first place. It also made him think about what he was actually doing and he mulled over some of her suggestions and questions for quite a while.

It may have been thought of as being deceitful and, as Iruka observed, he wondered why she went to all that effort, rather than just tell him what he it was that he was doing wrong. Yet as he continued to watch and listen, the answer dawned on him. Rather than tell him about his every error and what exactly he was doing wrong – basically a stream of constant put downs, like the teachers all gave him – she was showing him that he could figure through some of the problems himself.

Rather than making him feel like he was useless she was proving that he actually was intelligent and capable, even if very few others thought so.

There was a break for lunch and then Iruka sent them to loosen off their joints and muscles again.

When Iruka felt that his students were all moving well, he ordered them to pair up and spar with each other – just taijutsu – to test themselves. Kasumi, of course, went with Naruto since they had already been partnered together and, although he had to watch all of his class to ensure that no one got seriously hurt, he was the most curious about their fight.

It was organised so that everyone was fighting at the same time, which was better, in some ways, than one pair sparring and the rest watching as it was easier to get nervous and distracted that way.

_And_, Iruka considered,_ an upside is that_ _it also prevents Sasuke's fan girls from stopping – this way they have no excuse to cease their practice and stare._ He almost laughed aloud at the image of how indignant the girls would be if they knew, but didn't show just how amused it had made him, his features staying composed.

He shouted out, "You will have a maximum of five minutes. Of course, if you defeat your partner by then or come to a point where a draw is the only probable outcome then you will be finishing sooner than that. Now get ready!" Everyone bowed to his or her respective partner, formed the symbol for 'combat' with their fingers, and the majority then slid into a preferred taijutsu stance. It was quite interesting to examine them all, especially those who used a family-specific taijutsu rather than the one they were taught at the academy.

The tension nearly made the air palpable and all the students were waiting for him to allow them to begin. Seconds ticked by and some of the more impatient children began to fidget, shifting their weight uneasily from foot to foot.

"Start!" Iruka barked

And with that, the children lunged at each other, not giving a second thought to caution. Their movements were chaotic and sloppy but they had a year or so to refine them. One couple however, Iruka noticed, weren't moving.

Kasumi stood staring evenly at Naruto, her posture deceptively relaxed. But her right foot was positioned behind and out, away from her left leg, both knees slightly bent. Iruka was quite intrigued at seeing that as it was clearly the karate stance that he had taught her just the day before.

Her composure was the complete opposite of her partner, as her inaction was progressively riling Naruto. And Iruka could tell by the way her muscles were coiling beneath her skin that she was just waiting for him to make the first move. It wasn't long before he lost both patience and his temper and launched himself at her.

She was able to evade his initial attack with ease, his actions too aggressive for him to suddenly change in the middle of executing one and also easy to predict. Although she knew that she stood a better chance if she just continued to deflect or avoid attacks, she remembered one of Iruka's lessons. Sure, it would eventually wear Naruto out, but she would also tire from the constant movement of evading attack. Better to go on the offensive and let the fight reach the outcome.

_There's got to be an opening in his style __**somewhere**__…_ A few moments later, the chance presented itself. Having leapt at her again he cametoo close this time and, rather than dodge, she grabbed hold of his vibrant jacket and threw him over her knee. She waited until he got to his feet again but didn't pause enough for him to recover. Repeatedly, she seemed to dance around him, taking advantage of her small stature to get under his defence. She didn't pull her punches and kicks but whilst she was concentrating on speed, the power behind each strike seemed to suffer.

However, Naruto was no idiot, and caught Kasumi several times with a punch or a kick after halting her attack. He blocked a hit and his counter took her straight in the jaw; she was sent crashing to the ground. She slowly stood up, the back of her hand pressed against the area the pain was radiating from, and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva before turning to look at him.

Sweat trickled down her brow and Naruto was studying her with a slight glower. She didn't want him not standing up for himself and she also wanted him to put in more of an effort. _Best way to do that,_ she mentally grimaced,_ is to manipulate the person by getting them angry about something…_ But she didn't know what.

She didn't know much about him, but still hurriedly thought through the previous day's events and what had happened so far that morning. _Wait a minute… Now__**, there's**__ an idea._

"I thought Hokage were supposed to be _strong._" She muttered and promptly wondered if she had said it loud enough for him to hear. It hurt to say such things; she didn't really want to, especially since their friendship was so frail and practically non-existent. Mentally she cursed herself for not wanting him to hold back, although the silent rant didn't show on her smooth features.

And when Naruto shouted at her, she knew that he certainly had caught it. "Shut the hell up! What the fuck could you ever know, huh?" She glimpsed hurt and betrayal on his face, before contorting ire drowned it out. And she knew that she had _definitely_ screwed up. She almost stuttered an apology but bit the words back, realising it was too late now to take it back. She also felt herself flagging and knew that she probably wouldn't last two more minutes. _May as well go all out,_ she decided, biting down on her bottom lip nervously.

They rushed towards each other, and this time their strikes were more adept and had the potential to be somewhat lethal. Iruka wondered if he should stop them as, since the rest of the matches had already stopped, they had gathered a crowd of spectators. But he was interested in seeing the outcome and as he picked up no complaints from his pupils, he decided to let them continue.

But when they suddenly pulled kunai out of their assigned pouches, he knew that was a mistake. He ran to stop them but the two dashed at each other again, sunlight glinting off the weapons. The whole yard held its breath. A swirl of dust was kicked up from the ground; clangs of metal against metal rang out from within the obscurity. When it cleared, everyone's eyes widened and some of the pupils gasped, interpreting exactly just what they were seeing.

For there was Naruto pinned down by Kasumi, her kunai knife gently resting against his carotid artery. And his blade was nestled in her armpit, in a perfect position to sink into the axillary artery: both of their weapons in 'kill' positions.

Their eyes met, expressions of mild surprise on both their faces, and then Kasumi stood up. She brushed the dust off of her trousers before holding an arm out to help Naruto stand up. They grasped forearms and she yanked him to his feet. Then, almost immediately, their index and middle fingers interlocked in the symbol for 'harmony,' mirroring each other with the wide grins on their faces.

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><p>Right, glossary time once again (sorry~ DX ). <p>

_Okaasan/kaachan_: mother/mum  
><em>Itadakimasu<em>: said before eating, generally translated as "let's eat"  
><em>Gomen nasai mina-san<em>: sorry, everyone  
><em>Chigau<em>: [that's] wrong/incorrect  
><em>Kawarimi no jutsu<em>: body replacement technique  
><em>Bunshin no jutsu:<em> clone technique

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and hopefully look forward to the next... Though I don't know when it'll come out.


	3. Chapter 2

I'm trying to get this out more quickly, considering how long it was before I updated it. ^^; Sorry 'bout that!

Well, I hope you enjoy your reading~ :3

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor will I _ever_ own Naruto.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

A month later, after they had been freed from the clutches of their teachers – at least until they had to return the subsequent day, Naruto bestowed upon Kasumi the great honour of accompanying him whilst he played a practical joke on someone. It was obvious by the way he was speaking that it was a privilege that he had given no other. And she quizzed him about who would be their victim; his only reply was to tap one side of his nose with his index finger, eyes twinkling with mischief.

They were almost to the point of being inseparable: in class they would work together when allowed; he would come and see her when she was working (and manage somehow to convince the Third Hokage to treat the two of them to ramen); she kept him company in his shabby apartment when he felt lonely. She had even persuaded him to join her once school had finished for the day when Iruka gave her extra lessons.

She had found it hard at first to hide her astonishment at his familiar behaviour – she had been certain that, after their spar (or more accurately _the_ particular comment that she had made), he wouldn't have wanted to talk to her again. When she asked why he was still so friendly with her – genuinely puzzled – he merely beamed and gave a rather esoteric answer.

"You didn't hold back. You didn't _want_ to." And that was the end of that, as if all was explained.

He asked her if she could buy some paint – "_Orange_ paint – the brightest you can find!" – from a nearby art shop. When they arrived there though, he made no move towards the door and made sure to keep out of sight of the window. Kasumi turned towards him, nonplussed, and was met by a sheepish grin and a pleading look in his eye that begged her not to ask.

"It's, uh… Better if I'm not seen with you – safer," _For you that is_, he added mentally. "Ano… You'll be quick, ne?" Kasumi nodded an affirmative, trying to disguise the alarm she felt that set bells reverberating deep inside. Naruto seemed to cheer up then and he settled against the wall of the shop, content to wait for her.

She found two cheap bottles of the most retina-scarring shade of orange available, hurried to purchase it and left, smiling her thanks at the clerk. Naruto was exactly where she had left him but she noticed that he was standing very tense. She surreptitiously peeked around and noticed a small group of adults – mainly men – gathering on the other side of the street; they were muttering amongst themselves and throwing dirty looks at Naruto. It appeared as if he had not noticed them and yet Kasumi knew that wasn't true as she could tell that he was getting prepared to run away if the need arose.

Again she wondered what exactly was going on. Why were grown-ups of a certain age group so antagonistic towards a harmless little boy? A light frown marred her pale features as she tried to figure out the puzzle.

She was facing Naruto when she was brought out of her thoughts by movement in her peripheral vision. Some of the men were moving towards the two of them and, although they didn't seem outwardly aggressive, the air was thick with roiling emotions that put her on edge. Kasumi bit back a curse, grabbed onto Naruto's hand and started to run.

She didn't particularly care where she was running to, her mind solely focused on getting out of there. Her feet led them to her house and she was planning on going straight past, hoping that Naruto would take the route to be a detour despite the likely risk running through the more densely populated areas of Konoha posed. However something made her pause. There was a chance that they would be safe inside, but… Did she really want Naruto to see her home – to potentially catch her father passed out, having drunk himself into a stupor? Would her father react to Naruto in the same way as most other adults did? Would he tell her that she couldn't be friends with the boy any longer?

"Is everything alright Kasumi-chan? Why have we stopped?" Naruto queried, curious.

She couldn't do it, she realised. "N-no reason – I was just wondering if-if any of these houses were abandoned, but… I think we'll be safe if we reach Sandaime-sama." _Oh, said with __**such**__ conviction. He'll most definitely not panic when you speak like that_; the acerbic hiss was directed at her from some dark corner of her mind. She had felt herself think the thought – as in, it wasn't from an external source – but still tried to disregard that part of her so steeped with self-loathing.

When she made no move to carry out her plan, he spoke up again, "Eto… Shouldn't we be going then?" Without acknowledging him, she started running again and he was glad to note that this time they were headed to the Hokage tower. Halfway to their destination his eyes gained some of their usual sparkling mischief and if Kasumi had been watching him, she would have known that he was planning one of his infamous antics.

"You know, we _could_ prank Sandaime-ojiisan…"

"Naruto-kun," she warned reproachfully. He just looked at her beseechingly and she stared back. She was silent for a minute or so before she sighed. Naruto just grinned, triumphant over the fact that he – with the help of his big blue eyes – had made her resolve cave.

She huffed, "Okay! If you can manage to plan something with the orange paint by the time we get there, something that doesn't involve just throwing it at his face, then fine. But I'm not going to stop; you need something else, you'll have to tell me. And now, or else I'll head straight to the Hokage."

He asked her to go into several other shops and gave her a list of other items he required. In the last shop she took him in with her, and was immediately aware of the animosity aimed at him by the shopkeeper. She also noted that he wasn't paying any attention to her and vaguely wondered if shoplifters took advantage of the times when Naruto was in a shop. She dispelled the thought, and went searching for the last objects needed.

As she went back to the till carrying everything in a basket, she noticed that the seller still hadn't looked at her once. She frowned before ducking back into the aisle. _I am so going to get into trouble for this._ "What is the most serious punishment for impersonating a Konoha nin? Execution?" She mumbled rhetorically, before exhaling, trying to not think of either torture or death.

Making sure that she was hidden, she brought her fingers together in three seals - Dog, Boar, and Ram; "Henge!"

She walked out again, much taller with long red hair and golden eyes, a Konoha hitai-ate tied around her forehead. She placed the things on the counter and looked at the man, who still completely ignored her, choosing instead to glare at Naruto. Annoyance flashed through her eyes before it was replaced by an impassive, cold look, and she cleared her throat loudly.

He blinked, surprised, and finally glanced at Kasumi. He paled considerably when he realised that he had just been ignoring a kunoichi, perhaps a chūnin by the looks of her. "Ah, sorry about that," he gulped nervously, the attempted smile looking more like a grimace.

She gave him a pointed look but replied, deepening her voice to mellifluous, mature tones, "Don't worry about it. Can you just tell me how much this will cost?" She was most definitely glad that she had a job or else she would never have been able to afford it all. _I just hope Naruto-kun's prank is worth all of this._

Naruto left as she went to buy the basket of goods so that they wouldn't leave at the same time. _After all, I don't want that guy to hurt Kasumi if he figures out she's with me, _he thought.

As soon as she exited the shop, she dropped the transformation and exhaled. Her limbs were trembling ever so slightly due to the adrenaline pumped around her veins when she thought that she might be found out. Thankfully however, the shopkeeper obviously hadn't had any shinobi training, since he hadn't been able to sense her transformation - a small mercy that Kasumi thanked Kami for.

She signalled to Naruto for him to follow her and they walked quietly towards the red building that sat beneath the Hokage monument. She handed the bag to him and sighed again, "So, what are you planning on doing with all of this stuff anyway?"

* * *

><p>"Sandaime-sama!"<p>

The cry followed the slamming of the door against the wall of his office. It had gained enough momentum from the rough shove that it immediately swung back and crashed back into its usual place.

Said man jolted upright, interrupted from the work that he was doing, only to be met by a pair of electric blue eyes, streaks of amber radiating from heavily dilated pupils. He quickly examined Kasumi – who was gripping onto the edge of his desk as if for dear life whilst trying to gain her breath back – concerned by her panicked expression. Was she hurt? Was something wrong in the village?

"Sandaime-sama, please! You just _have_ to help. Please…" Here her eyes scrunched up as if she was trying desperately to hold back tears.

"Kasumi-chan, whatever is the matter? What's wrong? Why do you need my help?" He was beside her in an instant, crouching down. He ignored the protesting creak of his joints in favour of taking her face gently in his hands and forced her to look at him.

The troubled and sympathetic gaze broke the faltering floodgates and she threw her arms around his neck, sobbing. After getting over his momentary shock, he wrapped his arms around her. And so the story came out once she had quietened: she and Naruto had been spending time together when some adults came up to them.

"I-I could smell the alcohol on th-their breaths. N-Naruto-kun told me to run but I didn't want to. Th-then he ran away in the opposite direction t-to distract them. I c-came here for help but I don't even know if he's-he's..." She cried.

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed dangerously. Out of the window, he could see the dying sun shedding a bloody radiance on the streets and buildings of Konoha, its spilled essence revealing its demise by the hands of the coming darkness.

Its state was much like how he feared he would find Naruto when he asked Kasumi to take him to the scene. _So the villagers have dared to make a move against him? And it isn't even dark – they could easily have been spotted!_ And with that came the darker thought – _Would Konoha's citizens turn a blind eye if they saw Naruto being beaten in the streets?_

Once thing was for sure, they were certainly getting bolder. And that was something that he knew needed to be quashed immediately. _There will be a reckoning if I get my hands on them. They'll wish they'd never even __**looked**_ _at Naruto the wrong way_, he contemplated sadistically.

Kasumi meanwhile was feeling more than a little terrified – the killing intent leaking out of the normally benevolent Hokage was alarming. When he found out that both she and Naruto were lying to him…

_Well,_ she justified mentally; _hopefully once the trick is played out he'll take it in good spirits. And it is not like I'm totally lying – if we hadn't come here, there's no doubt that those men would have chased after us. They might even have hurt Naruto! _She didn't want to think about that, an image of the blond lying broken and beaten in a pool of his blood flashing through her mind before she, horrified, shook away her hideous imaginings._ Maybe this will make Sandaime-sama realise just how bad it's getting._

In the month since she and Naruto had become friends, it wasn't unusual for glares and gatherings of suspicious-looking individuals to follow them wherever they roamed. More than once they had had to run and hide. She shook herself from her thoughts when she noticed that she was being stared at, and that the oppressive atmosphere in the room had dissipated.

She looked down at her feet; wiping the tear trails from her cheeks and feeling mortified by her outburst. It had been surprisingly easy for the tears to spring to her eyes, her acting not entirely false as she amplified the worry she had been feeling as she tore through Konoha dragging Naruto.

Sarutobi, seeing that she had calmed down and didn't seem about to hyperventilate or panic again, took her hands in his wizened ones and softly inquired, "Are you feeling alright now?"

A nod.

"Then can you take me to where you and Naruto separated? It is imperative that we reach him as quickly as possible – before this situation progresses and anything unpleasant can occur."

In that instant he looked every bit the omnipotent Hokage that he was – who had given a command and expected it to be followed without question – and Kasumi failed at keeping the awe and reverence from her features. Her jaw dropped open slightly and as she gaped, her eyes became glazed.

When it appeared that she wasn't going to change from this state, Sarutobi reached over and was away to give her a little shake. However, she chose that moment to physically shake herself from her stupor – a movement that, he noted with curiosity, seemed to require great effort.

"Right, yes…" She spoke slowly, blinking, as if his 'suggestion' was taking a while to process. The dazed look in her eye suddenly cleared, and she became more alert. "Of course, Hokage-sama. Please follow me." She directed a fleeting smile at him before getting up and striding towards the door. He was glad to notice that her posture had changed; she stood more upright and he could almost feel the hope and determination radiating from her.

Although somewhat bemused by this change, he was also glad to see it, relieved that she was more level-headed now. She proved just how optimistic she was feeling when – upon opening the door – she skipped over the threshold. He shook his head amused, before he mentally berated and then steeled himself. He knew that ANBU would intercept him almost as soon as he left the building and their help would be much appreciated in the search for one Uzumaki Naruto. What he didn't know was the state said boy would be found in.

It wasn't until he had taken the step through the doorway that the pressure of a wire against his shin actually registered. Shinobi instincts immediately blared out a warning, judging it for what it was – a trap! He felt something topple from above him but even as he made the move to throw himself backwards, he knew it was too late.

_Splat!_ Whatever he had been expecting, it certainly hadn't been the copious amounts of orange slime that landed over his hat and robes. He heard peals of bright, mischievous laughter disappearing down the corridor that he just _knew_ were accompanied by a foxy grin on a certain blond-haired boy's face. So Kasumi had been the lure, had she? How typical of Naruto to drag someone else into one of his harebrained schemes.

He tried to suppress the rising irritation, aware of just how easily he had been played. A muscle under his right eye began to spasm and his fists repeatedly clenched and unclenched.

"_Naruto!_"

The roar reached the boy, outside of the Hokage tower and concentrating on getting away from its vicinity alongside his accomplice, who cringed and shared a petrified glance with the girl. She gave a tiny nod of her head, eyes wide, before they sprinted off through the streets.

* * *

><p>Glossary time, once again~ <p>

_Sandaime-ojiisan_: Grandpa Third  
><em>Henge<em>: transformation  
><em>kunoichi<em>: a female ninja


	4. Chapter 3

Another chapter out! :D It's really my way of apologising for how long it was between me uploading the prologue and then the first chapter - sorry about that, guys! Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed the story so far, and will continue to do so.

As always, any feedback you can give me is most welcome.

Just a **warning** about the end of this chapter: it may deal with some issues of violence that you may not be comfortable with, and whilst I do apologise for that, I'm afraid I'm not going to change it. But enough of that, on with the show!

Disclaimer: Me owning Naruto isn't going to happen. Haven't we already established that by now?

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><p><span>Chapter 3<span>

Kasumi only half-listened to the continuous flow of muttered curses that emanated from somewhere behind her, around the corner of the doorframe. She found herself humming in agreement with the sentiment, despite the fact that the more colourful phrases were ones that someone Naruto's age really shouldn't have even known existed.

She was currently kneeling on the floor next to a tub of soapy water, forced to wash the orange paint from the Hokage's robe. Naruto, who had first of all started on the threshold of his office, was currently scrubbing at the paint that had splattered on the floor.

"And you're both not leaving until every trace is gone." The authoritative growl came from behind the desk. Naruto just pulled a face and continued his grumbling. If only Kasumi had run a little faster, then maybe they would have managed to at least hide until morning. As it was, he could see the sky outside was rapidly darkening.

He sighed and took up the brush again, dipping it into his bucket of water before continuing with the work that he had to do as his punishment.

"Think of it as training, you two," Sarutobi's condescending tones rang out. It was obvious he was deriving great enjoyment from the whole situation. "Manual labour helps build muscle _and_ character at the same time!"

Naruto growled, looking up to direct a dark glower at the man who laughed cheerily. Before focusing back on his paperwork, he was pretty sure he heard the boy mumble something that sounded suspiciously like "damned old man." He merely shook his head, feeling quite smug and triumphant about getting some payback.

Naruto on the other hand was thinking about how they had been caught in the first place.

* * *

><p>"Kasumi-chan, hurry up! If we don't hide somewhere soon, every shinobi that jiji can get his hands on will be on our asses quicker than… Than something real fast!"<p>

"Hai, hai," she replied evenly. Naruto bit back a cuss when she didn't pick up her pace at all. Did she not understand the need for urgency?

A moment later she visibly twitched and leapt past Naruto, grabbing onto his arm and yanking him along. It took him a moment to get his feet back under him but she didn't slacken the pace at all.

"Wait! What's wrong with you?" He shouted, struggling.

"You were right." When he looked at her strangely, she shrugged and added with a frown, "I can sense the chakra of four- no, five on our tails right now."

"Woah... How can you do that?" He asked, awestruck.

"I-I don't know!" She replied, sounding flustered and confused. "My mum could do it, and she trained me a bit..."

Despite the fact that they had managed to evade any of the capture attempts for a few hours, there was really no chance of them getting away. The two of them may have been young and hence in possession of an almost endless supply of energy, but they weren't elite shinobi – the groups after them were completely out of their league.

They had stopped to catch their breath and find refuge inside the Shodai's head carved into the mountain. Running up the huge flights of steps had exhausted them, as had all of the dashing around that they had had to do.

In the suffocating darkness the only things that broke the silence were harsh pants for air and the thrumming of blood in their ears. Kasumi tried to calm her pounding heart by inhaling deeply and it did help to a certain extent.

It wasn't solely due to fatigue, she knew. She was scared and in response, adrenaline was being released into her system and pumped through her veins, quickening her heart rate.

A stone crunched somewhere on the far side of the area and Kasumi instantly held her breath, desperately wishing she could merge with the deeper shadows around the edges.

Tentatively she inched away from where she had perceived the sound, trying to identify shapes in the gloom. Her eyes had adjusted to the dimness, but as there was almost no light it was still impossible to see.

She felt the brush of air displaced nearby against her skin and froze. Was it Naruto, or perhaps one of their chasers had finally caught her?

"Kasumi-chan!" The distant cry came from Naruto and instantly she knew that whoever she had felt in the vicinity was an 'enemy'.

Promptly the man lunged at her. She felt his approach as the stagnant air around her moved in a flurry and swiftly dodged; aiming a sharp jab at what she hoped was his solar plexus as she did so. She twisted her fist sharply in his gut, satisfied when she heard a loud and pained exhale.

With that, she turned and ran, not particularly caring for stealth. Her logical conclusion was that if she had been found once, she could be found again. That brought her to thinking about Naruto and she stopped in her tracks. She couldn't just abandon him, although she didn't know what exactly she could accomplish against chūnin or even jōnin.

_Where would they take him?_ She wondered, moving cautiously away from the lighter areas again. _Well, there is only one quick way out of here – unless they plan on capturing me as well before they move either of us. It's always possible._ She frowned. It would certainly complicate a rescue if that was what they intended to do.

Meanwhile, Naruto was still struggling against his captors, kicking and biting. Two were holding onto him and he was fairly certain that there was another one around somewhere.

"Stop it!" A rasping voice hissed in his right ear. Upon hearing it, he threw his head back in the hope of smashing the man's nose or at least surprising him into loosening his grip.

He clearly caught whoever it was off-guard as he noted a surprised groan when he felt something crunch against his skull. One pair of hands released him to cradle the now-broken nose, then the other did shortly after with the query, "Hey, are you okay?"

Naruto didn't bother to wait for the reply before tearing off, intent on making it to the exit as quickly as he could. Unfortunately he had difficulty making out the opening as the sun had sunk behind the horizon and any remaining light was gradually leached from the sky.

_Come on; come on! I know I'm going in the right direction so where the hell is-_ He was abruptly interrupted by colliding into something. _Or someone,_ he added. Whatever it had been, it had felt distinctly soft, and stone certainly was not. He jumped to his feet and was about to get out of there—

"Naruto-kun?" He had trouble hearing the hushed whisper; in spite of that he identified it instantly as Kasumi.

"Yeah," he replied after a moment's hesitation. He groped around in the dark and found her shoulder, ran a hand down her arm until it reached her hand, which he grabbed and pulled her up by. "Do you know the way out?" His question was low, as neither of them particularly wanted to get caught.

She nodded; realised belatedly he couldn't see it and murmured an affirmative. So then they quietly made their way out, ears and eyes straining to pick up any movement.

A gust of cooler air heralded their proximity to the outside and upon feeling it and noticing a gentle illumination up ahead, they both burst into a sprint, relieved to finally reach freedom.

However, such joy was to be ephemeral as, just as they set foot outside, they were completely surrounded by extremely disgruntled looking ninja.

A glance around was enough to convince Kasumi that neither she nor Naruto would have a chance if they tried to fight. She slid out of the fighting stance her feet had instinctively gone into and tried to ease the tension from her muscles.

Naruto, on the other hand, clearly had no such reservations as he began to growl low in his throat and made a move as if he was about to attack. He stopped however, when Kasumi laid a gentle, anticipatory hand on his right biceps. He glanced down at her, indignant, and was about to launch into a rant about how they could _easily_ take them down, when he caught the small, almost imperceptible shake of her head.

He sighed and then grumbled the whole way as they were escorted back to the Hokage's office.

* * *

><p>After he had removed every last indication of orange paint ever having been spilled on the floor, Naruto waited for Kasumi to finish her task. He sat down next to her and, after feeling a little awkward; he offered to help her, rubbing at the back of his neck.<p>

"It's _her_ punishment, Naruto – she does it alone. Although it's very nice of you to offer," Hiruzen voiced before Kasumi could answer. She flashed an appreciative smile in Naruto's direction and persevered with tackling one particularly stubborn stain.

About ten minutes later, when she was absolutely certain that the robe was as clean as it had ever been, she stood up and stretched, easing the kinks out of her back. The item of clothing was handed over to its rightful owner, who was wearing its twin, and he smiled.

"Now," he intoned, "let that be a lesson to the two of you. For every action you take or do, there is always a consequence. Perhaps not always a bad one," he mused, "but it also depends on what the deed entailed." And with that little titbit of elderly wisdom he dismissed them, realising that it was after ten in the evening and, even if there was no one at home to give Naruto into trouble, it was entirely plausible that Kasumi could get a scolding.

* * *

><p>"Tadaima," her voice was subdued yet tense – was her father still awake? Was he in a good mood? Was he sober? How would he react to her coming home so late?<p>

Countless questions fired through her brain but considering she wouldn't get an answer to them until she saw her father, she shrugged them away.

None of the lights were on and, as she was tired after her eventful day, she made her way immediately for the stairs. Her foot had just touched the first step when her ears picked up movement behind her.

She turned around to hear a hissing voice slur, "And _where_ exactly have you been?" The living room light had been switched on and she saw her father standing in the doorway, noticed the sneer of disgust on his face.

And abruptly her heart plummeted.

"Eto, I w-was helping Sandaime-sama," _Not exactly a lie,_ "a-and we didn't notice the time until we'd finished the work th-that we'd been d-doing. Gomen nasai." She bowed, praying to anyone out there that he would just let her go to her room.

Clearly she wasn't being listened to as he continued in the same aggressive manner, "Bullshit. Tell me the truth – you can't just 'lose track of time' like that. Do you even know what time it is?" His voice raised in pitch and volume. "You-you've been with someone, haven't you?" Her lack of answer seemed to exacerbate his anger and he roared, "Tell me!"

He took a menacing step towards her, hand clenching into a fist, and she unconsciously flinched away, only for her shin to meet the steps. She floundered a little and, unable to regain her balance, fell backwards onto the stairs.

And suddenly she wasn't an eleven-year-old who was to graduate from the Ninja Academy in a year's time, a girl who should be more than capable of defending herself – she felt eight or nine again, helpless against her father's drunken fury.

A small, frightened girl who just curled in on herself and tried to wish away the pain, time after time.

She felt tears burn her eyes and hated herself for the pleading, weak quality to her voice, "Please… Uso ja arimasen."

Her insistence about her innocence just seemed to rile him even more.

"I _told_ you not to lie, bitch." She looked away, not wanting to see the contorted features staring down at her – the livid eyes, the flaring nostrils, the snarling mouth and bared teeth, the reddened face and the pulse pounding against the flesh of his neck.

And, as the first blows landed, she had already resigned herself to it.

* * *

><p>Right, here comes the glossary, once more.<p>

_Jiji_: old man

_Shodai_: First (used to refer to the First Hokage)

_Uso ja arimasen_: I am not lying/it's not a lie


	5. Chapter 4

I decided I didn't want to leave you all with the last chapter - this one does give some hope for Kasumi, and I thought that'd be nicer for you all. As per usual, I hope you enjoy, and please feel free to give any feedback!

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, and you have no idea how sad that makes me.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 4<span>

Kasumi lay curled in on herself, exactly where she had been left. As soon as she heard the door to her father's room click in place, she shakily stood up. She didn't bother to go to the bathroom and see the damage; didn't even think of disinfecting the wounds and trying to do something for the pain.

She just slipped into her sandals, struggled to get a thick jacket on as her left arm hurt and didn't want to respond to her body's commands, and snuck out of the house as quietly as she could. She wasn't even sure where she was going – usually she went up to the memorial stone and cried herself until she was so exhausted that she just fell asleep.

But that wasn't what she wanted to do – not this time, she felt. She wanted, no _needed,_ to seek comfort from someone living. Not the ghost of her mother; not this time.

She walked slowly through the streets, glad that it was dark – and late – enough that few people were out and those that were (patrolling shinobi or friends out to a bar) couldn't see the state of her face.

Soon she found herself in front of Naruto's apartment building and wondered if he would get mad at her for coming round in the middle of the night. She bit on her bottom lip and was about to turn away, when something inside her laughed in the face of her indecision and forced her to stroll to the entrance of his rather rundown flat.

None of the lights were on. She knocked timidly on his door, and then belatedly wondered if it was loud enough to wake him.

She was away to knock again when the door opened reluctantly.

"Yes?" A tired and yet tense voice drawled. Kasumi recognised it instantly as – albeit a weary – Naruto.

"Naruto-kun? It's me, Kasumi." At that, the light hanging above his door and ones inside came to life and the door fully opened.

"Kasumi-chan? It really _is_ you! What'cha doing here at this time of night?"

Bleary blue eyes that blinked several times and widened as they took in her appearance met her.

The next time he spoke, it was softer and more hesitant, "Kasumi, are you alright? What happened – it wasn't those men earlier, was it? Are you in pain? Do you want to talk about it?" He then seemed to finally remember himself, and his manners, "Oh! Sorry – please, come in!"

He took her gently by one elbow - careful not to touch her other arm that looked unnaturally limp - and led her inside when she made no move. He locked the door behind her and guided her to one of the seats at the kitchen table.

He set about making two cups of hot chocolate but was distracted when he heard small sobs behind him. He turned to see Kasumi struggling to take her jacket of and crying in frustration at her uselessness.

He rushed over, pulled it off gently and then gasped in horror when he saw the weird, squared-off edge of her shoulder.

"N-Naruto, I-I think it's dislocated," she gasped past the pain, her voice trembling.

_Shit, what the hell happened?_ His mind was in chaos – how was he supposed to deal with this sort of thing? - and, after taking a deep breath and drawing a few blanks, he asked shakily, "Is… Is there anything I can do?"

"Help me pu-put it b-back where it's supposed to go?" She suggested with a weak smile, looking wan. "We've been taught basic first aid – what to do out in the field. I," she swallowed, "I know what to do. Can you remember?"

Naruto shook his head; it had probably been on one of the days that he wasn't able to go into school or after some teacher had dragged him out of the class to falsely accuse him for some disaster.

It would also make it much harder.

"Okay, okay," she tried to ignore the coil of fear that had settled in her stomach and the pain that raced through her nerves. "I-I'll just have to talk you through it beforehand."

She took several deep breaths, steeling herself for what was to come. She closed her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose between her right thumb and index finger, and tried to dredge up strength from within that she didn't know she had.

After mentally preparing herself, she opened her eyes again and started giving him her orders.

"Right, can you get two towels? And, if you don't mind, could we put your duvet on the floor? And we'll need scissors – this t-shirt is a mess and anyway, I don't think I'll be able to get it off of my left arm. So it'd probably be best to cut it."

Naruto rushed around to comply and finally ushered her into his room. He cut a huge circle from the neck of her top, down and around her side, back up her back (but avoiding the shoulder blade) until it reached the neck seam again. He then cut right down the seam on the same side so he could just slip it off of her, rather than get her limbs in a tangle.

_Thank Kami_, he breathed out in relief, _she's wearing something underneath it. At least it won't be that awkward then._

But she didn't give him time to recover, "Okay, the next bit. I doubt I'm going to manage to take you through it step-by-step, so I'll tell you what to do now." She took one of the towels from his hands and folded it into a long, thin strip. She lay down and then motioned for him to sit beside her.

"R-right, so. You-um f-fold that towel and then pop it in my oxter, s-so that the fold is facing out towards you. You'll be p-putting your l-left foot in there. See the position my arm is currently in?" He nodded; it was lying away from her side, angled outwards, and palm facing up. "W-well, you should hold it above the wrist and k-keep it in th-that position as best as you can. Got it? C-can you do that-t?"

Naruto did as she had told him and then licked his lips nervously, "Okay, now w-what?"

"Y-you," she panted and then clenched her teeth; "you'll straighten your leg out and then lean your body back. Slowly! But you need to keep your leg and foot where they are."

He nodded carefully and she looked at him, taking the other towel and getting ready to bite on it, "Okay, do it."

She bit down hard on the cloth and, for the first few seconds, watched his technique, making sure he was doing it right. He kept her arm where it was, unbent his leg and then slowly tilted backward, pulling her arm gently with him and putting pressure on with his foot.

She could feel the bone move slowly, agonisingly under her skin and the pain that came with it was excruciating.

White spots danced before her eyes, the edges of her sight starting to fade to black and she screwed them shut, clenching her right hand so that her nails were digging into the flesh of her palm. _I am __**not**__ going to faint_, she thought fiercely.

And then, after what had felt like years but was less than half a minute, she felt her humerus pop back into place and gasped around the gag, breathing heavily through her nose. Naruto had stopped after he had seen the bone move so dramatically, swearing and looking decidedly nauseous.

Kasumi spat out the towel and just lay there exhausted, content to fall asleep right where she was. She was dimly aware of Naruto moving around and was rudely awakened from her doze by the sting of antiseptic against the swelling on the side of her face.

He gave her a look, "I need to treat the rest of this and then you're going to tell me what happened." He trailed off, pensive, "Ah, no. It'd be best if I take you to the hospital."

"What? I-I c-can't go _there!_ How w-would I explain this?"

"You're a ninja-in-training. No doubt they have plenty of people in who have pushed themselves beyond their limits, who fall or injure themselves whilst sparring. You're smart, make it up." His tone brooked no argument and so grudgingly she conceded.

"Fine."

* * *

><p>Naruto made sure that Kasumi took some painkillers, and drank the hot chocolate he had made, before they left. The walk to Konoha's hospital was silent and awkward, and she was glad when they finally reached the doors and saw the lights on inside.<p>

She had had the irrational hope that perhaps it would be closed but had clearly forgotten that it was a _hospital_ and that the iryō-nin worked shifts all through the night.

They walked up to the front desk, and tried to catch the attention of the single woman who was manning it.

"E-excuse me?" Kasumi called. The woman looked up, and her eyes narrowed darkly when she noticed Naruto. She never even took notice of Kasumi, despite her being the one to talk.

"I'm sorry – we're not a vet's. You must have the wrong place," her pointed comment was directed at Naruto, who scowled at her.

"It's not for me," he snapped and then indicated Kasumi with a jerk of his head, "it's for her."

The woman glared at Naruto, a look of disgust on her face but turned her attention to Kasumi nonetheless. Kasumi, who was currently trying to keep herself in check, when everything within her wanted to punch the secretary.

A horrified gasp made its way past the woman's lips, which just a second ago had been curled in a sneer, as she properly looked at Kasumi. "Oh my dear, whatever happened?"

The blush that flared in her cheeks wasn't from embarrassment but outrage, yet she tried to suppress her feelings – it certainly wouldn't do to assault one of the hospital staff. "I, uh, I was t-training, but I w-went a little far. I lost balance and c-collided with a log; next thing I knew, I was c-coming to, my f-face was sore and stiff and my left shoulder was dislocated."

The woman's eyes widened and then narrowed as she gave her a look over. "It doesn't look dislocated to me," she stated, the accusation clear.

Kasumi's eyes narrowed in turn; "I _do_ go to the academy here. I'm a ninja-in-training; I have s-some knowledge of emergency first aid – as does Naruto-kun who helped me p-put my arm back in place."

Her eyes bulged out of her head a second time as she glanced over at Naruto, who found it hard to let the scathing remark – "What? Because I'm a _monster_, I can't help people?" – die on his tongue.

"R-right, I'll… I'll call a doctor up here immediately."

Kasumi just smiled, both gratefully and exhaustedly, "Th-thank you. I appreciate it." She linked her right arm through one of Naruto's and sat down on a nearby seat.

After a moment of silence, she murmured, "And thank _you_ Naruto."

He looked shocked, "Ehh? What for?"

His remark received an incredulous stare from a pair of electric blue eyes. "Uh… Because you didn't complain about me appearing at your door at ridiculous p.m. and you tended to my injuries. And because you made me feel b-better."

He blushed, scratching at the back of his head in a self-conscious manner. "It-it was nothing. I just did what anyone would do."

A tender smile graced her lips and she was about to reply when she heard a deep cough and someone say, "Excuse me?"

She looked up and was instantly met by what looked like a civilian doctor flanked by a medical nin. "Ah, yes?"

The doctor looked a little uncomfortable, but Kasumi had no idea why. She just blinked at him, smiling. He cleared his throat and said, "My associate and I are here to give you an examination. To make sure you didn't injure yourself too badly, is that correct?"

"Ee. And I also w-wanted to find out about the level of internal damage that might have happened when my shoulder dislocated. And miss," she asked the iryō-nin, "would it be possible for you to h-heal some of this?" She indicated her face and left shoulder.

"Of course," was the cheerful reply, "I'm used to ninja coming in here all the time, in all states of injury. But you're young – you shouldn't push yourself _too_ hard or you'll end up in here constantly like some of the old fogies." This was said with a cheeky grin and a wink, and she added, "You'll be able to go to school tomorrow just fine, and no one will know the difference."

Kasumi smiled and bowed her head to convey her thanks.

The young woman knelt beside her and gently touched Kasumi's shoulder, a green nimbus springing to life around her hands. Her eyes shut, as if she was trying to conjure up in her mind eye what her chakra was showing her. A light frown creased her brow as she moved one hand slowly down the arm, over her scapula and the other around her shoulder blade.

Her eyes fluttered open again and she smiled, "Seems like it isn't that bad – I can heal it and, as long as you don't stress the tendon, it'll be fine. Even after this, I suggest you don't do any strenuous exercises or spar for _at least_ a fortnight, understand?" A nod. "Good. You can always come in and make an appointment for some physiotherapy, if you're worried about it possibly dislocating again – although if you follow my instructions and _rest_ your arm, it should heal well enough. Anyhow, I'll just get started on that and you can go back home. I'm sure your parents are worried about you, ne?"

The only response to her question was a non-committal hum.

The medical nin positioned one hand on her shoulder and the other hovered over her face, both with green chakra streaming from them.

Five minutes later, she was deemed fit to go. As she was leaving, she turned around to thank the medic again when she caught the animosity on the male doctor's face – animosity aimed at Naruto.

She was away to shout at the man, ask him what the hell did he think he was looking at, when she was suddenly jerked outside.

As the doors swung shut she turned on Naruto, her eyes blazing with ire, and was about to give him a piece of her mind when he put up a hand.

"Please, don't. I knew all along," he paused, sighing and shaking his head, "I wasn't going to say anything because then he might throw us out, and you needed to be seen to." His mouth tried to smile but the blue eyes above were sad. He turned his back on her and started to walk down the street when he heard a choked sob.

"How?" He seemed surprised and perplexed by her vague question, but she rushed on, "How do you do it? How are you so strong? How can you still smile, when…?"

The look of shock in his eyes turned tenderly aching and sorrowful, and before she knew it the words were tumbling out of her.

"Please, teach me. Because I don't know if I can go on like this! I just don't know anymore!" She bawled and felt an arm wrap around her shoulders, although he was careful not to hurt her. To be honest, Naruto was completely baffled as to what he should do to comfort her.

"Shhh, it's alright. C'mon, let's get you back to my place. That sound good?"

* * *

><p>For the second time that night she was seated at Naruto's kitchen table with a steaming mug of hot chocolate in front of her.<p>

"So… Do you want to tell me about what happened?"

She nodded hesitantly and stated, "But I'm not sure if-if I'll manage to."

"Just tell me as much as you can, okay? I'll help you," he soothed.

"Eto… Where sh-should I start? Well, my mo-mother was k-killed in action, when I was seven. Before that, all the memories I have are of us being a n-normal, happy family. But afterwards, my dad didn't pay any attention to the world or me. I had to make meals for the two of us; alth-although he didn't really eat them. And then he started drinking."

She shuddered and lifted the mug up to her lips to take a sip. "It wasn't much at first, but he steadily got worse and worse. I would often come home after lessons to find him passed out on the floor. He got t-time off of work, for as long as he needed – his boss was nice like that. It was only until he-he had spent almost all of our money on alcohol that he went back to his job. B-but when the money started flowing in, he showed up less and l-less, and then eventually he was told never to come back."

She squeezed her eyes shut, her bottom lip trembling at the effort to keep the tears at bay. Even just remembering was hard for her, and she wasn't even at the worst part.

She felt a gentle touch on her shoulder and she opened her eyes to see Naruto looking at her, concerned. "It's alright, okay? You can stop if you don't want to; don't push yourself."

Kasumi shook her head, and gave him a shaky smile, "N-no, I… I need to g-get this off m-my chest." She then took several deep breaths before she felt ready to continue, "After being fired, he got worse. I would h-hear him cursing and spitting at thin air, crashing about. But he didn't just get violent towards inanimate objects, he—"

She couldn't hold back the sob that welled up, or the ones that followed, "He s-started beat-t-ting me. F-for the tiniest things, for things I h-hadn't even d-done!"

Naruto was at her side in a flash and he gave her a soft hug, pressing her face gently against his chest. He let her cry, knowing that she had bottled up the emotions for a long time and that she would feel better once she'd let them out.

"Hey," he started to speak cautiously once she had quietened in his arms, "I may not have much space here but…" He bit his bottom lip, "You can stay 'round if you want. We can sneak to your house; get some clothes, your pyjamas, whatever you need for school. Only if you want to, though."

She looked up at him and gave him a weak smile; "Thank you. I-I don't know if I could face going home."

"Okay then. So," he added with a mischievous grin, "you up for sneaking in through your bedroom window?"

* * *

><p>The trip to her house was thankfully uneventful and despite their fears that her father would discover them, they never even heard him make a sound down the stairs.<p>

Soon they were making up a makeshift bed for her on the floor in Naruto's training room, so that she could have a little privacy. She disappeared into his bathroom quickly to change out of her clothes and into a pair of long-sleeved Chinese style pyjamas.

All the while, she was troubled by a question she had wanted to ask. And after emerging from the bathroom to see Naruto in the kitchen area, making two cups of instant ramen (she hadn't eaten after all, and he could make room for ramen at any time of the day), she blurted it out.

"Naruto, I—" She took a deep breath after he'd flinched and turned to face her, looking quizzical. "I've seen h-how people in Konoha treat you. I…" She was startled to feel tears roll down her cheeks and wondered vaguely how someone's tear ducts could manage to keep up with crying so many times in one night.

"I've done it before, but I don't know if-if I still can. Please, teach me, _help_ me – how do you keep smiling everyday? How? How can you be so strong?"

His smile was empathetic; he knew exactly how she felt as he had been in the same boat before. _Obviously this latest thrashing her father gave her has knocked what little confidence she had left. Am I even able to help her?_ He thought despairingly. Then something in him hardened, _No, I can't think like that. I'll help her in any way I can – I've got to help her. She's the closest friend I have, and right now… She __**needs**__ me._

_And anyway,_ he added as an afterthought, _she believes in me._ That alone gave him confidence and filled him with a delight that he had never before experienced, and hadn't known existed.

"Kasumi-chan," he softly called, walking over to the table with the pots and two pairs of chopsticks; after laying them down, he motioned for her to sit beside him.

When she did, he watched her and tried to figure out what to say. It wasn't easy, dissecting the way you lived and coped with things, and giving advice based off of your way of living. Or it wasn't for Naruto, who had never had to do such a thing before. _But I'm not going to give up. I'll give it my all!_

"First of all, you need to be sure of yourself – even if someone hurts you, you can't let them know. Be tough. You must be proud of yourself and… And realise that no matter what they say, it's all lies unless you want it to be the truth. But, you see, ummm… If you try really hard to be happy and smile, whenever you feel sad, you can always cry around me. Because I know that you will have done your best. You got that?"

He scratched at the back of his neck nervously and gave her a sheepish grin, his eyes squinted. On the inside he was panicking, hoping that he had managed to convey what he had wanted to say properly.

When he didn't hear a sound from her, he opened one eye and peeked at her, only to see tears rimming her eyes. He started to cuss mentally – _crap, __**totally**__ wrong thing to say!_ – when she almost threw her arms around him. He could still hear her sniffling a little but it wasn't too long before she quietened, getting her crying under control again.

"Thank you so much. That was j-just what I n-needed to hear!" She chirped earnestly.

Naruto blushed a little, turning his head away so she couldn't see. "Well, um," he stuttered self-consciously, "uh, eat your ramen up would you? I made it for you, so it had better not go to waste!"

"Okay!" And before they went to bed, the early hours of the morning was filled with the clack of chopsticks, the slurping of noodles and laughter.

* * *

><p><span>Glossary<span>

_Iryō-nin_: medical ninja  
><em>Ee<em>: a more polite way of saying "yes" (if I remember correctly)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, everyone! Look forward to the next installment, and - if you have the time - please leave a review! :3


	6. Chapter 5

Sorry for it being so long since I last updated; I've been panicking for ages as to whether this chapter is any good. ^^; Somehow I don't think I'll ever grow out of that one. :P

Anyway, I shan't keep you long. Without further ado, here is chapter 5! :D

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, never will, but Kasumi's mine. :3

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 5<span>

"Ohayo Ka-su-mi-chan!" A loud voice sang out.

Kasumi shifted under the blanket and then blinked owlishly out at the world. It seemed to take her a few moments to recognise her surroundings and remember what had happened. When she did, she bolted upright, eyes wide. Her shoulder gave a twinge of phantom pain and she winced slightly, before acknowledging the voice that had called out to her.

"Ah, N-Naruto-kun! What's the time? We're not late for school are we?"

Naruto called through from the main room, which was both his kitchen and bedroom, "Ehh? 'Course not! We have plenty of time. What would you like for breakfast anyway?"

"Ano… Toast, onegaishimasu." She answered slowly after pondering it for a little while.

His chuckling floated through to the training room as she was changing into the clothes she had taken from her house that morning.

She peeked around the doorframe and then stepped in quietly. She crept up until she was behind him and then asked in his ear, "What's so funny?"

He jumped and swore, turning around to find Kasumi laughing hysterically at his reaction and quite unable to stop. She eventually calmed down but was still gasping, trying to catch her breath. "Ow, my sides hurt!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed menacingly. Before Kasumi could ask what was wrong, he had jumped on her and proceeded to tickle her. She shrieked and squirmed away from him, but his onslaught was relentless.

"Stop… It!" She panted between bursts of laughter. She shoved him off of her and then tried to straighten and dust off her clothes, avoiding his other attempts while she did so.

Noticing the two pieces of toast on the counter of the cupboards in the corner she inquired, "Is one of them for me?"

He nodded and she grinned at him, "Arigatou gozaimasu!"

The two of them chatted about yesterday's prank with great glee around mouthfuls of food. After finishing, she looked at the clock on the wall and asked him, "Shouldn't we go to school now?"

Naruto pulled a face, "I guess. Ah, Kasumi-chan, you can go ahead. I have to lock up and get my things ready."

"Are you sure? It's okay – I can wait."

"No, please. I might be a while and I don't want you to be late, just in case," he responded, smiling.

"But, Naruto-kun…" She pouted, concerned. He just grinned characteristically and pushed her out of the door.

"Now take care and don't worry! I'll probably catch up!"

_Will I just wait for him here? I don't want him to walk to school alone_. She stayed outside his apartment door and stood there patiently.

When he came out ten minutes later, after locking his door, he turned and started when he saw Kasumi. "I thought I told you to go to school!" He exclaimed, indignant.

She shrugged, "You did but you're my friend, ne? I'm not going to just leave you on your own."

"Fine," he grumbled shortly and walked off, only to be joined a couple of seconds later by Kasumi who jogged up.

"You know," she giggled, "you're kind of cute when you're in a huff." She stuck her tongue out at him teasingly.

"Kasumi!" He shouted, trying to ignore the heat in his cheeks, "Oi, get back here!" She just ran past him, laughing the whole way even though a not-exactly-happy Naruto was chasing her.

* * *

><p>"So, what was so funny earlier?" Kasumi piped up as they walked along one of the main streets in Konoha.<p>

"Hmmm?" It took Naruto a while to realise what she was talking about. "Oh, what? At breakfast?" She nodded. "Ah, i-it's nothing, really." He looked askance and then yelped in shock as she prodded him in the ribs.

"Nuh-uh. Y-you're not getting away with that: tell me."

They stopped in the middle of the road (thankfully it was early enough that there weren't large crowds for them to get in the way of) and traded glares for a while. Finally Naruto sighed, shrugged his shoulders; "It's just because you're so polite. I mean, saying 'onegaishimasu' to a _friend_ – only you."

He shot her one of his bright, winning grins; she punched him in the shoulder.

"Ouch!"

She giggled at the indignant look on his face and stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, if you couldn't handle that, then maybe you're weaker than you thought?"

She dodged as he lunged at her, and then started running in the direction of the academy.

"Oi! Come back here and say that to my face!"

* * *

><p>"See? I told you we wouldn't be late," she smugly told him when they approached the building and heard children screaming and playing.<p>

Naruto just pulled a face and decided to ignore her gloating, and rather wondered about their lesson after school that day. _What's Iruka-sensei gonna teach us? Maybe it'll be an awesome new jutsu since Kasumi-chan can't spar today!_

As they came into the yard in front of the building, the bell rang. Parents were lingering in the playground, chatting to each other and waving their children off. Kasumi and Naruto both started to run, not really wanting to be late even if it was just the first of three bell rings.

Without either of them noticing, one parent positioned near the door stuck her foot out surreptitiously in the hopes of tripping Naruto up. He never noticed the obstacle in his path and fell, crashing to the stony ground.

Kasumi, who had continued on before noticing, turned back and ran to his side. She helped him to his feet, concern lacing her voice, "Hey Naruto, are you alright?"

He grimaced in reply, brushing the grit and dust off of his clothes. In the meantime all the adults found his misfortune hilarious and their loud guffaws echoed in the space now devoid of pupils.

Kasumi heard them, stood abruptly and turned to face the woman who had made Naruto fall. Her fists clenched by her side and the way her hair fell in her face cast shadows across her features.

"Excuse me. Aren't you going to apologise?" She asked her voice deceptively calm and sweet.

The absurdity made the woman laugh even louder. "As if! Why should I say sorry to that demon? Does it even have any feelings?" Other mothers tittered in agreement.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe I didn't make myself clear," Her tone exuded saccharinity, which suddenly melted into vehemence and harshness.

"I said," Kasumi snarled this time, looking up at her, frame shaking with fury, "_apologise _you bitch!"

That stopped the woman from laughing. An eerie, oppressive silence reigned over the yard, the wind frantically whipping Kasumi's lavender blue hair.

"Excuse me? Who the hell do you think you're talking to like that, brat! Such impudence!" She slowly and arrogantly stalked up to Kasumi, endeavouring to be intimidating. Despite her efforts, the woman failed miserably, she only managed to exacerbate her: her vision had never seemed so clear, focused as it was on her target; every nerve of her body alive and singing with anger.

"How do you know he doesn't have feelings, huh? He's human, just like y— everyone else in Konoha! I hesitate to call _you_ human, because to be honest I'm not sure if some_thing_ like you can be. Maybe _you_ should try living with the kind of-of-" briefly she struggled to find the word she wanted to use "-_animosity_ that he's had to deal with and I bet you wouldn't end up half as decent!"

Naruto just watched on, jaw slack and completely flabbergasted. He didn't know if he should try and stop them or go and get Iruka-sensei. He was so shocked by Kasumi's outburst that he wasn't sure how to react.

"_Animosity?_ Oh, the little brat likes to pretend she can use big words," the lady sneered. "You should be taught to respect your elders." She raised her hand and swung it round to slap Kasumi.

Only to go crashing to the ground a moment later. Kasumi stood with her left leg extended in level with the woman's stomach, having performed a flawless side kick. She was positioned side on, torso lowered slightly towards the ground. Leisurely she lowered her leg and straightened.

"Perhaps you should think twice about touching me and my friends," she coldly bit out before turning away; Naruto, gaping and wide-eyed, took a few seconds to recover and trotted to catch up. They joined their classmates just before the last bell rang.

All the other adults standing there were absolutely shell-shocked, not quite sure what had just transpired. Had it even been real? Who on earth was that child who though she could treat a grown-up in such a manner?

* * *

><p>Naruto never had the opportunity to speak to Kasumi about the incident until after school had ended. Whilst they sat in the empty classroom and waited for Iruka to come back, he turned to her.<p>

"Kasumi, I never got the chance to thank you for that back there. You were so awesome! Thanks so much!" He grinned, his eyes gleaming excitedly.

She blushed and looked sheepish, "Really? It— I-I wasn't that cool. I mean I shouldn't have lost my t-temper like that."

"You're awesome," he reiterated, convinced. "But… Are you sure you won't get in trouble?"

She paused, wondering for a moment, "I probably will. But, well… I was defending a friend."

Iruka chose that moment to walk up and interrupt, "Sorry to intrude – you seem to be having a rather interesting conversation here – but it _is_ time for your extra lessons."

"It wasn't that great Iruka-sensei – I was just deciding that Kasumi is amazing." Naruto grinned widely and Kasumi coloured.

Iruka raised an eyebrow; there was definitely a story there. "Oh really now? Sounds… Intriguing." Kasumi squirmed, looking utterly uncomfortable. He smiled, shaking his head, "Well anyway, it's time for you to get out to the training yard – I'll meet you there."

And he disappeared in a plume of smoke.

* * *

><p>"So… You managed to dislocate your shoulder yesterday, Kasumi-chan?"<p>

Her cheeks flushed and she nodded, ashamed. "Hai and the iryō-nin at the hospital said I was to rest my arm. So I guess taijutsu and sparring are out of the agenda for today."

Iruka rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well that _was_ what I was going to be concentrating on today, but I guess not then. Any particular jutsu you want to learn?"

Kasumi and Naruto both fell silent, thinking about it. Suddenly both of their heads snapped up and they looked at each other.

"You know…"

"Yeah! That'd be awesome!"

Iruka blinked, astounded by their communication. He spoke up, "Ano… What exactly are you speaking about?"

"Y'know, what you used to disappear from the classroom Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.

"S_hunshin no jutsu_, sou desu ka?" Kasumi interjected quietly.

He looked a little dubious. Kasumi, for a moment, was certain he was going to refuse but then he stated, "Well it is a D-rank so, as you'll more than likely be genin by this time next year, I'll try and teach you it. However, whether you understand what you have to do or not is a different matter."

"Well then, why don't you explain the theory behind it and then demonstrate it more slowly, _without_ the smoke?"

* * *

><p>It took Umino Iruka around ten minutes to fully explain the technique – how to execute it, what you need to do, its advantages and disadvantages – and the same amount of time multiplied by five to try and help Naruto understand.<p>

"I mean I know what you're meant to do and what it does, but… How do you do it?"

Iruka sighed and felt like pulling out his hair. Kasumi just smiled and started to describe exactly what he had previously said, only simpler. She excluded all of the waffling, dissecting it to the pure basics. At the end of her explanation, when Naruto seemed to have worked it out, she turned to her teacher.

"Umino-sensei, could you please show us now? Step by step though, if you can."

That was exactly what he did. His hands formed the ram sign and he began to guide them through it.

"Right, I've taught you how to mould chakra, correct?" There was a slight elongated pause from Naruto but he nodded as well. "So, you gather your chakra but hold it inside your body; unlike with most other ninjutsu, you won't release it outwith yourself."

They seemed to be following him so he went onto the next stage.

"Now if you can manage you – I don't know how to describe it – let it flow through you, to every part of you. The main thing, however, is you _must not_ let it out!"

_They are both attempting it,_ he noticed, amazed. _Even though they don't know what they're doing next!_

He smiled, "If you've done it right and have directed enough chakra to your limbs, your legs should feel stronger and vitalised. Then when concentrating on that feeling – you turn it into movement!"

He vanished, only to appear several metres away behind them. "Of course the amount of chakra built up is linked to how far you can go – the height of the terrain can also change the required volume."

Two pairs of eyes blinked up at him in wonder. He scratched one cheek, a light blush colouring them pink.

"So… Want to give it a try?"

The two of them both practised for around two and a half hours. To begin with, they were both atrocious - Kasumi was better than Naruto due to superior chakra control; however the difference was marginal.

Whenever Naruto got frustrated she calmed him and when asked for advice she obliged.

"Naruto-kun, you will find it more difficult if you become annoyed as you lose concentration. You need to focus s-solely on what you're doing, on the next step, or else it won't work. At least, th-that's what okaachan always told me..." Her voice trailed off and she looked solemn for a few moments. He smiled hesitantly and placed a hand on her shoulder; she started, looked up at him. Then she gave him a small smile in return and they went back to trying the jutsu.

As time progressed there were improved results – they certainly were moving nearly instantaneously, although their passage was visible and the range extremely small.

Kasumi began to travel longer distances as an almost invisible blur. Iruka then suggested to them that a good way to hide their passage at first was to use smoke bombs. It didn't quite have the same effect that ninjas who had mastered the technique had, but it was a start. Anyway, it wasn't as if he had expected them to be able to 'teleport' from the get go.

By the end of the session Naruto was near the same level and, though exhausted and more than a little grimy from an accident with the smoke bombs, what they had managed to achieve in a relatively small space of time delighted them greatly.

And somehow, they managed to coerce Iruka into treating them to dinner at Ichiraku Ramen.

* * *

><p>Right, Glossary time! :D I don't even know if people pay attention to this, or particularly need it. ^^; Oh well.<p>

_Ohayo_: Morning (as in good morning - though for it to be that, it would be _ohayo gozaimasu_, I believe). It's used to greet people in the morning, funnily enough. :P

_Onegaishimasu:_ This means 'please', though it's an extremely polite form. The reason Naruto laughs and then comments on it, is because it wouldn't be common to use it to a good/close friend.

_Arigatou gozaimasu:_ 'Thank you very much'

_Iryō-nin:_ This is the term used for a medical ninja

_Shunshin no jutsu:_ The 'Body Flicker Technique'; in the English dubbed anime, it's referred to as the Teleportation jutsu. I happen to think it sounds cooler in Rōmaji. :P

_Sou desu ka?:_ This little phrase means 'is that so?' or 'isn't that right?'

Well, hopefully that helped you out, and you enjoyed the chapter! :) I would like to promise you won't have to wait so long for the next one, but I sadly don't think I can make that promise. Though I _shall_ try my darnedest to make sure that I release at least one more chapter before I start back at university!

Ja ne! :D


	7. Chapter 6

Right, here's the sixth/seventh chapter for your enjoyment. I'll apologise in advance for the sucky fight scene. ^^

As usual, any feedback of any kind is most welcome, even if it's just the tiniest word of praise (it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :3), or some constructive criticism (which I really want! :D).

Now, on with the show! :D

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, blah blah blah. :P We all know the drill by now.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 6<span>

School report release date loomed with all the usual dread and panic from the pupils – What will my grades be like? I really messed up on that test; will it be okay? I wonder what position I got in all the rankings.

And perhaps the most significant one pressing on their minds – _what will mum and dad say and/or think?_

For three in the class, the last wasn't a major issue. Naruto, who had obviously never had to worry about parents' expectations; Sasuke, who had lost his; and Kasumi, whose father, despite always receiving the report card from his daughter, paid no attention to it and seemingly couldn't care less if she was failing miserably.

She worked to the best of her ability regardless of the lack of interest, trying to prove to herself that she wasn't going to be a failure of a kunoichi – she wanted to become like her mother, who was a stalwart jōnin, and whom Kasumi had always suspected was in ANBU.

However in Sasuke's case, he was still determined to make his mother and father proud by upholding the great and honourable Uchiha name. It was something he took seriously – as seriously as he did his revenge on his brother for the slaughter of their esteemed and skilled clan.

Yet he was arrogant in said determination, perhaps _because_ he was an Uchiha. Having come first place in all the tested areas in both his class and the school since his first year there, he was convinced that no one – no one in his class anyway; they were all idiots and not worth his time – could challenge him, a great _Uchiha_, for the top positions.

When his report card was laid on his desk, he opened it with the usual lack of enthusiasm and the bored thought of one used to an achievement; _I'll be first place for everything, yet again._

His jaded scan of the grade table evolved into a disbelieving stare and then further into an outraged glower. For three of the areas – taijutsu, senjutsu and team – proclaimed him as second out of the class and the whole academy instead of his 'rightful' status.

Ino and some of the other girls who professed their undying love for him flounced over as everyone was speaking about their grades.

"Top of the board as always, Sasuke-kun?" Ino simpered, having elbowed past her nondescript rivals to reach him first.

Even just one look at his twisted features unnerved Ino, his resentment and ire clear. "Ano… Sasuke-kun? Is something wrong?"

He said nothing, only crumpled the paper and left it on his desk. As he walked away (because Uchiha most certainly don't _storm_ away) with his back facing her, Ino took the opportunity to unfold it and read over his marks.

She was instantly stunned by the results until the rabid fan-girl inside of her starting swearing that she would make whoever had beaten, and thus angered, Sasuke pay for what they had done.

* * *

><p>Kasumi was anxiously watching Iruka as he handed out the reports to the class; Naruto didn't understand why she was so nervous; but then he didn't really care about it.<p>

Iruka finally reached them and handed both her and Naruto the appropriate paperwork. As her report changed hands, he grinned at her, "Well done Kasumi-chan," before walking on.

"A-arigato Iruka-sensei," she responded quietly. Iruka froze in mid-stride and slowly turned to stare at her, rather shocked at hearing her call him 'Iruka-sensei' rather than 'Umino-sensei' as she always did. After a moment, he shook his head gently, smiling to himself and proceeded to walk around the class.

After reading through the report, she laid it down deliberately on the table. Her brain seemed to take a couple of seconds to process what she had seen and then she suddenly ripped it open again, making sure that it wasn't just her imagination.

_I came first in the class and out of the__** whole school**__ in __**three**__ areas? Am I dreaming? Is this actually real?_ A dazed and dumbfounded look crept onto her face.

Naruto peered over her shoulder, skimmed through it with vague interest and let out a loud whoop when he saw her marks.

"Wow Kasumi! That's so awesome – well done!" His mouth was stretched into a huge grin but then he fell silent for a moment, thinking. "Wait, wait a minute, wasn't Sasuke the one who was _always_ first? Ha! Can you imagine him _not_ getting first place? Serves him right."

She tried to silence him and, when he continued boasting for her, glanced around the room, nervous.

"Quiet N-Naruto," she hissed at him, "Uchiha-san's fan club is probably out for the blood of whoever outdid him."

"How would they know already? We just got given them," he queried, head tilted to one side in confusion.

The blank stare directed at him was followed by a sigh, "His marks always seem to be more important to them than their own are. Now _please_, at least k-keep it down – I don't want them hearing."

Sasuke however had heard, having been intent on picking up someone's cheering or bragging. His head snapped around to look at the small girl who seemed more panicked than proud of her achievement.

Black eyes narrowed as he studied her. _She doesn't appear to be very smart – she's friends with that dobe __**Naruto**__ after all_, he sneered. _It must surely be a misprint or a fluke. I'll wait until the end to ask Iruka-sensei about it._

* * *

><p>"Iruka-sensei, I need to speak with you."<p>

"Yes Sasuke? What can I help you with?" He put his pen aside, looked up and clasped his hands on the desk.

"This." The report card was thrown down on top of the stack of papers in front of Iruka. "Are you _sure_ there isn't a mistake here at all?" Sasuke attempted to sound a little diplomatic and not as if he were questioning Iruka's competency, but his being angry didn't really help.

"Excuse me? A mistake with what exactly?" Iruka asked, trying to keep his voice neutral despite the fact that he felt the urge to deck the boy for his blatant lack of respect.

He got a blank stare as if what he was talking about should be obvious. Sasuke paused before replying, "Do I really need to spell it out sensei?"

Iruka sighed, "Okay, let me see if I understand what you are implying then. You think that I've made a mistake here, here, and here," he indicated each area on Sasuke's slightly crumpled report card, "correct?"

Sasuke nodded and Iruka let out an explosive sigh again.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, but there was no mistake. At first I wasn't sure but I got all of the other teachers here to check and all of our results agreed. You'll just have to try harder next time," Iruka added gently with an encouraging smile.

"So who do I have to beat then?" Sasuke ground out, fists clenched by his sides.

Iruka raised an eyebrow and stated firmly, "Sasuke, it's not a competition. Someone else in the class has obviously worked hard to improve themselves, and they've surpassed you in certain areas. As for whom it is, I can't tell you that information. If they're not bragging about it then clearly they don't want people to know." _Unlike a __**certain**__ someone_, he added scathingly in his mind.

Sasuke glared at Iruka and burst out, "Can you just tell me whether or not it was that blue-haired girl, the one that's friends with Naruto, who was first in all three? What's her name – Kazue? Katsumi...? Anyway whoever; was it her or not?"

"I already told you Sasuke – no means no! I wouldn't tell you even _if_ I was allowed to!"

He looked as if he was away to argue and then his mouth suddenly snapped shut. "Hn," he grunted, in true Uchiha fashion. "Whatever. See you on Monday."

And with that, he turned around and left.

* * *

><p>However, he wasn't the only one to find out about Kasumi's success: Ino and her lackeys had also heard Naruto chattering on about it as the two of them left the classroom at the end of the day.<p>

"We've _got_ to teach that bitch a lesson!" Ino fumed. "How _dare_ she humiliate Sasuke-kun like that? Who said that _she_ could be better than him, huh?"

"Yeah! That's right!" A chorus of affirmatives was the only reply from the rest of the girls; even if they were 'rivals in love,' it did not prevent them from exacting payback for someone insulting the coolest, most handsome boy to have ever graced the elemental nations.

Well. That was what _they_ thought anyway.

"So when should we do it? Should we wait until next week, and ambush her when she's least expecting it? Or do we go in for the kill now?" Ino asked with a twisted, unpleasant sneer on her face. More than a couple of the girls shivered at the look, disturbed by how manic she appeared.

Ami, a girl whom Ino had never liked, spoke up, "If it's for Sasuke, we _must_ act immediately. To let her go unpunished… It's unthinkable!" Ami's two followers nodded in agreement.

Ino scowled, "I never _said_ that she would get away with this – in fact, I want the opposite. But what does everyone else think? Should we just jump in head first?"

None of the girls said anything. Furtive glances were cast between Ami and Ino; the rest of the group weren't sure how to answer, not wanting to incur the wrath of either.

"Is _no one_ going to answer me?" Ino questioned, brow furrowed in irritation, "I just want to know what you think. That's all."

The silence continued for a few moments more before someone piped up, "I agree with Ami-chan. I think it'd be best to do it now. There's no point in leaving it until later."

"Very well," conceded Ino, smirking. "All we have to do now is find her. Shouldn't be too hard." Of course, after provoking Murphy in such a blatant manner, they turned out to be famous last words – as it were.

It took the group a little over two hours of wandering around Konoha to finally find Kasumi.

"There she is," Ami murmured, all the girls hiding down a side street and watching their target carefully.

"How're we going to do this?" asked Fuki, Ami's spiky-haired friend. She wasn't the only curious one; others were wondering the exact same thing. No one had come up with what could be done to catch Kasumi.

Ino's replying grin looked decidedly evil, "Well, you see _I _have a plan. Listen to this—"

* * *

><p>Kasumi strolled past shop windows, leisurely taking her time as she made her meandering way to the Hokage tower. Once or twice she paused, something catching her attention.<p>

"I wish I could afford that," she sighed, looking at a newly crafted weapon set laid out on the window counter. She pressed her face against the cool glass, admiring the display and despairing at the price. _I guess top quality shinobi equipment __**is**__ worth that much, but still… It's not fair;_ she pouted slightly, and looked put out.

Sighing, she detached herself from the shop front and continued onwards to her destination. When she passed the alley where all of Sasuke's fan girls were hiding, several pairs of hands suddenly grabbed her. Next thing she knew her left shoulder collided with a wall, sending pain shooting along her nerves.

Wincing, she looked up, preferring to find out who these assailants were rather than worrying about the pain and any potential injury. She managed to flex and clench her left hand, and sent a quick thank you to Kami that her shoulder hadn't dislocated again. It had been over half a year since that injury, and after a few physiotherapy sessions she was told that she needn't worry about the joint being weaker. It didn't stop the irrational anxiety of hers that it would happen again easily.

She frowned as she scanned the posse and realised who they all were. _I knew this would happen,_ she groaned to herself. _Ugh, why did this have to happen when I was on my way to Sandaime-sama? If I get in a fight, he'll be able to tell. I swear he's psychic or something._

Outwardly there was no sign of the conversation she was having with herself. She got her hands under her and made to stand up, only to get a sharp sidekick to the stomach that sent her crashing into the wall. She coughed and gasped for air, winded from the strike.

"Who said that you could get up, bitch?" Ami sneered, the other girls jeering and laughing at her too.

Kasumi merely stared at the ground, her eyes hidden by part of her fringe, "What is this? Uchiha-san's lackeys, his _dogs,_ have decided to— what? Get revenge for their master?" She paused; "How pitiful."

They all gaped at her, having believed that she, being a shy and quiet girl in class, would have just passively taken a beating and then apologised for 'showing up Sasuke-kun'.

"Wh-_what_ did you call us?" Ino screeched livid. They all had much the same reaction: spluttering indignation.

"As-as if! Get real girl! Sasuke-kun doesn't need help from anyone to defeat a midget brat like you!" another raged.

"Then why are you fighting his battles for him?" The question was posed to them calmly, and immediately the flurry of movement that had surrounded her – like a hurricane with her the eye of the storm – ceased.

"Is that what you think this is?" Ami enquired haughtily, looking down on Kasumi who was still sitting in the dirt. "Actually, we just think that you need to be taught your place. You? Better than Sasuke? A likely story," she snorted.

"Yeah! You must've, umm… _Bribed_ Iruka-sensei, or something! There's just _no_ way Sasuke-kun will stop getting the best marks out of everyone. He'll be the 'rookie of the year' when we graduate!"

_And yet…_ Kasumi sighed out loud. She didn't have time for this.

"Are you actually going to do anything? Because I'm busy – I _was_ on my way to work."

"Ha! I'm sure you'd just love to get away so easily, wouldn't you? Coward," spat Ino, setting off the other girls' sniggering. "You have to pay for that attitude of yours – _no one_ is better than Sasuke. You got me? _No one_ can outshine him!"

"Oh? So are you saying that I'm skilled enough to at least challenge or threaten his position? I wouldn't have thought that that would be something one of his _fan girls_ would suggest. What happened to him being the all-mighty Uchiha?"

She earned a slap for that, the force of the blow flinging her head sharply to the side. She turned back around to look at them, glad that they hadn't noticed the subtle shifting of her position whilst they were all talking. She let herself drop through the air and, upon landing, immediately followed through with an attempt to sweep their feet out from under them with her right leg.

She only hoped that it would bring down some of them, to even out her chances just a little, but she didn't really care about how many. It was more than a little reckless, but she didn't mind. A fight was potentially just what she needed to dispel the nervous energy that had been pressuring her all day.

Naruto wasn't really having the _best_ influence on her rational thinking.

Ami and her two friends fell, as did a few other girls. Ino managed to jump over her leg, noticing it at the last minute and was one of the few still standing. Those on the ground groaned or whimpered; having not expected the strike, they hadn't managed to cushion their falls' at all.

Kasumi got to her feet, testing the manoeuvrability of her left arm. Dull pain shot through her nerves from the shoulder joint, but it wasn't so bad that she didn't think she could cope with it. Trying to ignore the tenderness, she faced Ino with her guard seemingly down. When Ino noticed this, an angry scowl twisted her features.

"Don't take me lightly, bitch!" She snarled, "You think you're so tough, huh?"

Kasumi made no reply, and just stared at the blonde with a bland look on her face. Despite appearing outwardly calm, she was terrified. It was taking a lot of effort to hide her shaking – she didn't want them mocking her for being weak and afraid, after all. She wasn't sure how she would do facing the three girls who wanted to fight her, or at least seemed to. She didn't want them exploiting any weakness that they saw in her.

After all, just because she could remember the lessons they had had about facing multiple opponents didn't mean that she could put them to good use.

_I'll never be able to do this,_ she fretted. And she immediately frowned at the almost treacherous thought. Thinking like that wouldn't help her any – if there was the belief that something could be accomplished, and the determination, it more often than not succeeded.

Her eyes fluttered shut for a brief moment, as she steeled herself.

_But, then again, I'm __**not**__ going to back down either._

Ino chose then to make her move. She charged at Kasumi, fists readied, and swung her whole body behind a powerful right hook.

Kasumi ducked under the blow, dropped to the ground and kicked out, taking all of her weight on her hands. Her strike hit, sending Ino crashing into the wall on the other side of the alley. A twinge from her shoulder caused her position to collapse, and she quickly got her feet back under her before she could fall.

The other two used that visible moment of vulnerability to charge at the girl, who grimaced when she noticed their approach. They were being far too direct in her opinion, but she had too little experience when it came to reading another's movements to tell if they were just using misdirection. It was possible they would make some out-of-the-blue move when she least expected it.

In an effort to deny them any advantage over her, she rolled through the space between them as they came within reach of her. Admittedly this brought her closer to Ino, but one look at the girl groaning on the ground and cradling her stomach and side made Kasumi think she wouldn't be joining them for at least a little while.

_Unless she's faking it, of course,_ she considered warily.

When her feet touched the ground again, she used the momentum to smoothly flow into a standing position. The two against her were turning around to face her again when she stepped out, away from all of them. She didn't want to leave her back exposed to any of them if she could help it; any injury she sustained from such carelessness would be more than deserved in her opinion.

On the other hand, if they didn't exploit such an opportunity when it presented itself, she wasn't sure if they had any right to call themselves shinobi.

Of course, she had her doubts regarding that anyway.

But she couldn't help but be impressed when they decided to change their tactics and staggered their attacks rather than charge straight in at the same time. They came at her from two different angles, although the alley wasn't wide enough for one of them to get around her and into a potential blind spot.

One leapt at her, a flurry of fists. She dodged and blocked what she could, grinding her teeth when several knocks jarred her left arm. A grimace of barely-contained pain marred her face before she managed to grasp back the determination she had felt.

_I'll have to be careful of my left arm – that shoulder's being more of a pain than it's worth._

The other attempted to enhance the assault, throwing kicks and punches where she could to keep Kasumi off balance. And damn, if it wasn't working. They had her entirely on the defensive, unable to get in a good counterattack. Those she managed to make contact with turned out to be glancing blows, much to her chagrin.

However, her opponent paused briefly to shake the sweat and hair out of her eyes. She had stopped in the perfect place to prevent her ally from getting around her to attack.

And in that moment Kasumi saw a chance to retaliate.

She drew back, coiling around as her right fist came up to her left shoulder. Then, like the release of a taut bowstring, she uncurled herself, her hand snapping out with severe precision. The back of her fist struck the girl on the cheek and sent her spinning to the right, to crash into some dustbins there.

Ami and her friends seemed to have mostly recovered from their introduction to the merciless road and were making moves to get up.

But the only one still standing gestured with one hand, a chopping motion down to halt the three's advance, and she spoke in clipped tones, "You dare interfere now and you _will_ pay. I'll take her out. I'll do it for my onee-chan's wounded pride."

_Sister?_ Kasumi peeked at the person she had struck, and frowned.

"Don't let your focus wander!" It was growled out between clenched teeth, and then followed by her running at the blue-haired brat in front of her. Kasumi didn't have much time to respond before the bigger girl bore down on her.

Her try at blocking the initial hit backfired, as there was just too much power behind it; being small and light made it easy for her assailant to bring her down if there was enough force and weight behind an attack. She fell backwards and the teenager was on her in a second. She managed to tuck her knees up to her chest before the heavy pelting of pain continued with renewed vigour.

A cry slipped past her lips; she tried to curl in on herself, away from the pain, but it was futile. Despite being in possession of a rather high pain threshold, it was ineffectual against the unrelenting, rage-driven onslaught.

But some part – dark and enraged – of her, deep inside, snapped. It commanded her to stop being a weakling, to stop trying to deal with it as she did the beatings she got from her own father. It snarled at her to fight back, to teach them a lesson.

She put her hands up to the face looming over hers and lashed out with her fists. She then dug her nails into the soft flesh of her cheeks, and dragged them down slowly, shredding skin and drawing blood. It made the girl cry out, but it didn't slow her onslaught.

_Crack!_ The blow to Kasumi's exposed temple made her surroundings start to blur and fade, pain causing waves of nausea to crash through her like the sea against a defenceless beach. The metallic tang of blood blossomed in her mouth after another punch.

Her breath rasping harshly in her throat, the girl halted briefly, and drew her fist even further back for a finishing blow.

But that moment's pause was enough. Kasumi, seizing the opportunity presented, spat a mouthful of blood and saliva into her face and then lashed out with her legs which were still between the two of them, kicking her off.

She went flying and Kasumi shakily stumbled to her feet. A snarl of hatred twisted her features into something feral. She snarled through the hurt, latching onto the fury instead and ignoring the sobbing of her nerves.

It didn't help that her face was a mess of blood and welts, her bottom lip split, painful protests shooting to her brain so they could be heard. On the upside, the look on her battered face intimidated those around her and a collective shudder passed through them.

Everyone else had stepped away from the two some time ago. There were those who didn't want to get involved and a few who had tried to stop Kasumi's beating midway, only to be prevented from interfering.

Whilst granted a brief respite, Kasumi hurriedly searched for a blood increasing pill and an analgesic. Swallowing them with the briefest of winces, she slid into a prepared stance.

Then she decided it was high time she took the fight to them.

* * *

><p><span>Glossary<span>

_Senjutsu:_ When it comes to the report cards, senjutsu does _not_ mean 'sage arts'. Instead, it means '**tactics**'; I spent a long time (because in the English manga it doesn't translate the characters) looking through fan translations of that page, found senjutsu and was like, "Wtf?" Some further searching found one where it had been translated as tactics.

I'm sorry if I've got that wrong - it's always possible :P - but I _did_ trawl through the internet for a long time, searching. :)

The mention of 'provoking Murphy' is to do with Murphy's/Sod's Law, whichever you call it. It's basically an old adage that says, "If anything can go wrong, it will." Example: You're making plans to go to the beach; there is glorious sunshine, and blue skies to boot. However, someone recommends you take an umbrella or waterproof, _just in case_. You poo-poo the idea; "Just look at the weather outside! I won't need an umbrella: it'll never rain!"

I think you can guess what happens next. :P That is provoking Murphy. ^^

Anyways, ja ne! :3


	8. Chapter 7

Here's chapter 7, everyone! I'm _really_ sorry it's so late, and for the fact that it's been so long since my previous update! . I've been trying to get ahead with the amount of chapters I have written (it's not been going so well).

Anyway, my apologies once again! Now, on with the show! (As with the previous chapter, sorry for the continuation of the sucky fight scene! ^^;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; should be obvious by this point.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 7<span>

Ami and her two friends had decided not to get involved in the middle of all the clashes between Kasumi and the rest of them. They had been quite content to sit back and watch as blows were exchanged and blood was shed.

But when they noticed that she had taken down all of her opponents, even if only temporarily, they knew that they had two options: run away, or step in.

Somewhat foolhardily they chose the second (or rather Ami chose for them) and they all stepped forward, making their intention clear.

Kasumi whirled on them, still growling. Her hands moved in an imperceptible blur. Next thing the two lackeys knew, they were pinned to the wall by their clothes; shuriken had been thrown at the areas where their clothing was loosest, had pierced the material and finally stabbed into the wall.

"You want to have a try?" Her voice was guttural and harsh, top lip curled back in a snarl. She spat bloody saliva out to one side, never breaking eye contact once.

And, without waiting for a reply, Kasumi was on her. She jumped up and snapped her right foot out in a head height kick. To avoid the kick making contact, Ami threw her head backwards just in time but the move was too violent, and she lost her balance. As she fell, Kasumi grabbed a fistful of her top and then kneed her in the stomach.

The air went whooshing out of Ami's lungs, leaving her gasping and panting, trying to clutch at the ache in her middle. But just when she started to curl up, a fist was waiting for her and struck – once, twice, and thrice. Kasumi let go as her hand connected.

Next thing she knew, her ribs were being introduced to the unforgiving ground. Having already been unbalanced and only held up by Kasumi, she was sent crashing down after the last punch. A weak whimper sounded in her throat, her eyes clenched tightly shut in her efforts to ignore the pain.

Kasumi looked down at her coldly, wanting nothing more than to grind her face into the dirt and stone or kick her in the ribs whilst she was down. Her breath was coming in harsh, rasping pants, chest heaving with each lungful of air. Despite the numbness that was gradually spreading through her body, her face still bore a pained grimace.

"Anyone else?" She ground out. She was fed up of the pain and the exchanged blows, and wanted nothing better than to relax somewhere.

_Relax, huh…? Oh, a trip to the onsen would be __**lovely**__, _she mused drowsily.

Not only was she ridiculously late for helping out the Sandaime Hokage but she was also in an absolute state. If she went to him now he would know that she had been in a fight; on the other hand he would also know that something was amiss if she didn't turn up without previously notifying him that she wouldn't manage to make it.

No one made a move towards her. Backing away from them, keeping her eyes trained on each of them as much as she could, she reached the exit of the alley and was out onto a quiet and almost empty side street. If the fight had taken place in one of the lanes off of one of the main boulevards, there would have been a crowd of people gathering within a minute and at least one shinobi patrol would have shown up to break them apart.

_Instead, _Kasumi thought rather bitterly, _some stupid fan girls beat me up. I don't know whether I should go straight to Hokage-sama – I__** am**__ late after all – or whether I should nip into the hospital to get cleaned up._

She walked onwards, lost in her thoughts and not noticing the strange, disapproving looks people were throwing at her. She did after all look a complete mess: her hair was mussed, her lip was split, one cheek was swelling up and it seemed as though she had the makings of an impressive black eye.

_If I go to the hospital, Sandaime-sama will find out about it anyway; maybe not the circumstances, but he will hear about my going in and why I needed to go there. Better, I __**guess,**__ to get it over and done with,_ she let out a heavy sigh, shoulders slumping slightly.

A lance of red-hot pain stabbed through her shoulder and neck, causing her to grit her teeth as she tried to continue on despite it.

_If only that d-damn painkiller would kick in just a bit quicker;_ she gritted her teeth against the pain, but couldn't stop herself from wincing.

Kasumi was rather disappointed in herself: there had been several strikes that she could've easily avoided or blocked, and she could see the scenes repeating over and over in her head.

_When she did that, I should've… And then I could have countered with that. Ugh, this isn't helping. I was sloppy; I __**need**__ to train harder. If that had been a battlefield, I honestly would've been dead in seconds._ If she were being perfectly honest with herself, she had been worried that she might have come out of the fight in an even worse state that she had. After all, those girls obsessed over Sasuke: if she had angered him as greatly as they had implied, she wouldn't have been surprised if they had gone rabid on her.

Whilst lost in her thoughts, she was steadily approaching the Hokage Tower, which also meant that she was wandering into some of the busier streets. And people were still out and about, doing chores or meeting friends in one of the cafés – normal, everyday occurrences.

She wasn't blind to the peculiar looks or the disapproving ones she was getting from some adults.

_Maybe they think I'm some troublemaker who likes to get into fights. I probably look like one right now;_ she snorted lightly, amused by the notion.

It was when the shadow of a large shape fell over her that she finally looked up, beforehand having been _most_ interested in studying the ground for any secrets that it might divulge. Apprehensively she approached the main entrance and made her way inside, nodding in greeting to the Hokage's secretary as she passed.

"Yuhara-san, what happe—?" Her voice trailed off into oblivion, both due to her shock at seeing the condition of the small, blue-haired girl and also the fact that she walked straight past without even acknowledging her presence.

"'M fine," she muttered.

She knocked timidly on the door to the Hokage's office and slurred, "Yuhara Kasumi, Hokage-sama."

"Come in." The door opened and, before he looked up from his paperwork, his mouth started to run on autopilot. "I'm glad you could make it. I was getting a little worried when you didn't show up on time."

Then he diverted his attention from the documents in front of him. He paused momentarily, taking in her dishevelled and beaten appearance with a carefully bland expression, before he asked in a soft voice, "What happened?"

Kasumi trembled slightly; she didn't want him to know about the fight as the reason behind it was rather petty – she didn't want to see the disappointment in his eyes, or the hardened and cold look that meant much the same.

She gulped, uncomfortable under that expectant gaze and it wasn't long before she broke eye contact with him.

"I-i-it's g-good to s-s-see you as well, Sand-d-daime-s-sama. Y-your work hasn't been t-t-too stressful I h-hope," she knew it was a blatant and pathetic redirection of the conversation, and one quick glance at him proved the point that it hadn't worked and he was most certainly not impressed. She couldn't help but shrink away from him slightly, the fear and apprehension she felt worsening her stutter to levels that she hadn't been at for _years_.

"Kasumi," he sighed. "You can tell me; I won't get angry."

She flinched and immediately looked down, "A-ano… It-it's n-nothing t-to worry about, Hokage-sama."

"Kasumi, why did someone do that to you? Who did it? Was it some of your classmates? People you bumped into with Naruto?" He had a feeling that it certainly wasn't the last one; she wouldn't have been so reluctant to tell him if Naruto was possibly getting beaten.

"Iie. I'm al-alright, honestly – I just fell, th-that's all. I've t-taken some pai-painkillers…" She trailed off, looking uncertain and dithering about something. Then she took her report card out of her pocket and handed it to him, "I, ano, w-wanted t-to give this to you S-Sandaime-sama."

He sighed again. "Don't think I've forgotten about it – I _will_ be asking you again later, and I expect you to answer me." He then took the document from her grasp and smiled at her, "Ah yes, Iruka told me that it was nearing this time again. Have you done particularly well this year?"

It was something that she had gotten in the habit of doing a year previous. She looked upon Hiruzen as a surrogate grandfather and had started to show him the report that she got each term. However, their final year was rather unusual in that they received their progress and ranking information the term before they had the genin test. It was the only one they were given, and was a both a review of the previous years and of their development through the current academic year.

He had felt particularly touched the first time that she had, since it proved to him how much she trusted him. He never failed to feel proud of her achievements either, knowing that even when she sometimes slipped up, she would no doubt have been trying her best.

_And it's not as if her father cares about her progress at all, unfortunately._

She, to his surprise, looked very uncomfortable and bashfully scuffed her feet against the floor, "Ah w-well, you see… I thought that there m-may have been a mistake."

Sarutobi looked down at her curiously, one eyebrow raised. She indicated that he should see what she meant and so he obliged her. He opened the booklet and slowly scanned the information presented. She bit her bottom lip and fidgeted, waiting for his reaction. When he placed it down on his desk and turned his attention to her, the nervousness that she had been feeling seemed to increase tenfold.

But the radiant smile that he gave her cleansed her of the ugly, uneasy emotion and she found herself smiling shyly in response. He praised her for her progress and she squirmed from the compliment, feeling awkward.

"So why did you think there's been a mistake?" He was rather interested in finding out the reason why.

"Ano, that is… Uchiha-san has always b-been first in our y-year. I c-can't believe that—"

"You had improved beyond his level in some aspects?" Her fiery blush confirmed his surmise. "Surely it shows that _you _have tried harder to better yourself, no? Is that not something to be proud of?"

"Yes, y-you're right, Hokage-sama. I'm s-sorry," she bowed her head, ashamed.

In response, he sighed and then let out a tired chuckle, waving away her apology, "Kasumi-chan, there is absolutely _nothing_ you need to apologise for. I understand why your results may be hard – for you – to believe, but it only proves how much you have improved."

She nodded, biting down on her bottom lip. How could she be such a fool? Evidently she had been working hard the entire past year. Thus she had earned the academy ranks. _So, why do I feel that Uchiha-san would've been the better person to get it?_

She couldn't think of an answer. And her temples were starting to throb and her whole face ache, the painkillers she had taken fading.

The Third Hokage seemed to notice her slight wince and frowned, "So Kasumi, ready to tell me who it was that made such a mess of you?"

Kasumi couldn't bring herself to look him in the face, "I… I-it doesn't matter, Hokage-sama."

"Yuhara Kasumi. I won't ask again." His voice was stern and held a hard edge. It made her realise that he was her leader and that, if and when she graduated from the academy, he would be giving her orders that she _had_ to obey. It was a tone that brooked no argument – she had pushed her luck as far as he was willing to let her.

So she summoned up her courage and looked at him. She bowed low and then, swallowing hard, stuttered, "I b-beg your forgiveness, Hokage-sama. It was s-some girls from my class a-and the year above: Yamanaka-san, Ami-san and f-four others. Th-they were not happy about my marks, believing that I m-must have cheated or bribed my way into having higher marks than Uchiha-san. They think that no one could be his superior in s-skill, and so t-took it upon them to 'teach me a l-lesson.' I, ano, I h-have to admit that I am n-not blameless," her cheeks heated up, "I-I said some things th-that egged them on, and I also r-retaliated... G-gomen nasai."

Sarutobi interlaced his fingers and rested them against his mouth as he listened to her explanation. He then groaned and, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers, said, "I see… Well, whilst I cannot admit to being pleased with your conduct in this matter – both in here and with them – I am far angrier with them. Six against one, over such a petty thing? Tell me, was Sasuke the one who recommended they take action like this?"

She shook her head and, without realising, straightened to attention in front of him, arms behind her back. "No, sir – in fact when I suggested that they were fighting Uchiha-san's battles for him, they got quite upset. I d-don't think he _knowingly_ had anything to do with it."

He sighed again, "Very well. I'm glad to hear that, at least." He gave her a tired smile, and Kasumi was suddenly struck with just how old he was. "Let's take you to the hospital, shall we? And then we can maybe go and find Naruto at Ichiraku ramen."

She nodded and walked out of the room with him, trying to hold back a grimace. She glanced upwards and met the Hokage's gaze, which was back to normal, as kindly as ever.

_Only I've seen the steel, the __**leader,**__ behind it, _she thought with awe and newfound respect.

* * *

><p>"There, now," the Hokage smiled down at her, "you almost wouldn't think that you had been in a fight at all." He ruffled her hair fondly and then turned to the iryō-nin who had healed the damage. "Thank you for helping out, even though I'm sure you have a busy schedule."<p>

He waved the Hokage's thanks away, "It's no problem. Even if it weren't my duty, I would've been happy to help." The medic looked down at Kasumi and grinned. She was surprised by the fact that he seemed quite young. "Take care now, and try not to get in trouble anymore, 'kay?"

She nodded, looking down at her feet and feeling ashamed of her actions all over again; "I'm s-sorry for troubling you."

"Nah, it's okay. Just take care of yourself, you hear me?" He started to walk away and suddenly Kasumi was reminded that she wanted to ask something.

"Ah, please wait!"

He paused and looked back, "Yes? What is it?"

She fidgeted slightly, noticing that even Hiruzen was looking at her, interested. She hadn't wanted him to know about this but she needed to be sure that no permanent damage had been done. "The-the thing is I, umm… I dislocated my sh-shoulder over half a year ago – I had some physiotherapy sessions to make sure n-nothing was wrong with it, but I l-landed on it hard once or twice. I just w-wanted to be sure nothing's wrong, b-because it was giving me a bit of trouble."

The iryō-nin frowned and then replied, "Well, I can always run a diagnostic jutsu on it if you want. I'll be able to tell right away if anything's wrong." She nodded gratefully. "So which shoulder was it?"

"It was m-my left shoulder."

He nodded and his hand hovered over her shoulder blade, the glow surrounding his hand indicating the commencement of the jutsu. His eyes fluttered shut as the frown marring his face deepened. He moved his hand around the area, carefully checking.

"Well," he said finally, "you have no need to worry. Apart from being bruised, there is no indication of the joint having weakened again. The physiotherapy, and the fact that you're young and fit, completely solved the problem."

Kasumi sighed in relief and then smiled shyly at the man, "Th-thank you very much. I appreciate y-your time."

Once he had walked off and out of sight, the Sandaime Hokage turned to her and asked, "How was it that you dislocated your shoulder?" Outwardly he merely seemed curious, but he was worried about the implications of such an occurrence.

She looked rather uncomfortable at his question and mumbled, "It, ano… W-was just a t-training mishap." Not wanting to linger on the subject any more – and hoping to deter him from asking more questions – she jumped up out of her seat and exclaimed, "Anyway Hokage-sama, d-didn't you say something about getting ramen? It'll be great if Naruto's at the stall."

With that she bounced away and out of the hospital. Hiruzen just frowned as he watched her back disappear through the doors. _It couldn't be, could it…?_ He hoped not; he didn't even want to think such a thing possible. _Well, it seems like I'll have to keep a closer eye on Kasumi_, he thought grimly as he followed her out of the building.

* * *

><p>The smell that wafted down the street as the two of them approached the ramen stand wrapped itself around their hearts like a hairy worm.<p>

_I'll never get tired of Ichiraku ramen,_ Kasumi thought dreamily. It was fairly strange that she felt that way, considering she had never been there before she met Naruto. Now, although she didn't eat quite as much as him, she was pretty much considered a regular. _I can definitely say that my life – up until the moment I was first taken here – was lacking._

A familiar loud and energetic voice emanated from inside the booth; Kasumi shared a significant look with the Hokage.

"S-seems like we _will_ find Naruto-kun here."

Hiruzen smiled a smile that seemed to say, "of course, did you ever doubt it would be so?"

They ducked (or rather the Hokage did; Kasumi was small enough that she didn't need to) under the drapes of the stall and sat down next to a fair-haired, orange-clad boy whom they both recognised very well.

Said boy was in the middle of inhaling a large bowl of ramen and didn't notice them as they came in; too distracted was he by his food.

"Hello, Naruto-kun;" quietly she greeted him as she took the free seat to his right.

He looked up from his meal, surprise evident on his face; it was replaced by a searching gaze as he looked at her. Then, slowly, his face was bisected by a huge grin. "Kasumi-chan!" He cried happily, "You here for some ramen? It's really,_ really_ good today!"

Teuchi, the owner of the stall, heard him and light-heartedly huffed, "You mean it isn't good normally? Brat!"

Kasumi giggled a little at that and Naruto laughed too, relief momentarily flashing across his face. _She's okay then – that's good. I was worried when she looked down. I wonder if something happened…_

"No, no!" He sniggered, trying to placate him. "The ramen from here is the best; it's _always_ the best! But it's just… It's even _better_ today!" He gesticulated wildly with his arms.

That had Kasumi and Teuchi laughing again, and even the Hokage joined in with a low chortle of his own. Naruto laughed along, enjoying the moment. Hearing the people important to him in high spirits made him feel content – especially knowing that he was the one who had amused them so.

He grinned cheekily, screwing his eyes up, "Oi, Sandaime-jiji! You _have_ to treat Kasumi-chan to a bowl of ramen. I mean, have you heard how awesome her marks were?"

Hiruzen smiled indulgently and replied, "Yes, actually, I did see her report card. I was _very_ impressed." Kasumi blushed upon hearing the praise and ducked her head, trying to avoid the attention. He just chuckled before asking, "And how did you do, Naruto?"

Naruto pulled a face, "Meh. Same as always, I guess."

"I see…" The Hokage spoke softly and then reached over to ruffle the boy's blonde locks. "Don't worry about it. It's your last report. Before you know it, you'll have graduated and you'll be a genin."

"Ha! As if I'd let it get me down, jiji. It's not long until our graduation exam, and I'm gonna ace it!" He exclaimed enthusiastically.

The aged man nodded ponderingly. "So I presume that confidence means that you're all set for the exam. Have you improved on your jutsu? You didn't manage so well with _bunshin no jutsu_ the last times you tried for the graduation exam."

Naruto scrunched up his nose and said, with a dismissive hand wave, "Details, shmetails… Jiji, there's no need for you to sweat the small stuff. I'm going to be Hokage after all; there's just no way I'm gonna fail!"

Kasumi decided to speak up in Naruto's defence, seeing the dubious look on the Hokage's face; "H-he has been t-training h-h-hard, Sandaime-sama. Iruka-sensei has b-been tutoring us a-after classes. We w-were even taught h-how to do _shunshin_ _no jutsu_. I w-would say we've b-both improved."

The boy frowned whilst listening to her talk. _She's stuttering much worse than usual. Something __**did**__ happen to her. The question is what?_ He studied her whilst there was a lapse in the conversation and his eyes picked up dried blood around the collar of her top, the grit and muck in her hair and on her clothes. _Could it have been a fight? _He considered that for a while. _But she's not really the type to get into fights._

"Kasumi, you okay?"

Her whole body jerked to a halt and slowly she turned her head to look at him, eyes wide in surprise and— wait… Was that fear? His blue eyes narrowed.

"I-I'm f-fine," she gulped. "Wh-why d-do you ask?"

_Uh huh…_ "No reason!" He chirped, hiding his suspicions behind a bright grin. "Just you're not eating your ramen, so I was kinda worried."

Her tense body posture relaxed, not obviously but still enough for it to be noticed if someone was watching her closely – which was exactly what Naruto happened to be doing.

"Ah! O-of course. I-I'm sorry." She turned her attention towards the steaming bowl in front of her, and broke her chopsticks with a murmur of, "Itadakimasu."

_I wonder what happened. It wasn't her father again, was it?_ He continued to scrutinize her whilst she was busy eating. _No… _He concluded. _If that had been the case then I don't think she would've wanted to risk the Hokage seeing her. And she'd also be more withdrawn; apart from her stutter, she's just like she always is._

Very slowly, so as to not attract the Hokage's attention, he sidled over to her. "Kasumi," he said, his voice a low, almost inaudible murmur, "you know you can tell me anything, right?"

She looked at him from the peripherals of her vision, not turning to face him. Warily she nodded her head once, disguising it by bowing her head to cough into her hand.

"Then why don't you just tell me what happened?" She looked as if she was going to protest (_She'll probably say nothing happened,_ he supposed) but he interjected, "You know, there's blood on your collar." Kasumi gasped, and her hand flew up to her neck; then she realised that she'd put her foot in it.

His tone had been light and conversational, but it became hard-edged, "Something happened, Kasumi. What was it?" His last sentence was ground out, emphasised with a pause between each word of his question.

She glanced over at Hiruzen and, upon seeing that he was engaged in a conversation with Teuchi, allowed herself to sigh, her body slumping.

"I- it was Uchiha-san's fan girls."

"What about them?" Naruto queried mildly, informing her that she wasn't getting away without giving him some details.

She scowled lightly at him; "They— somehow th-they found out about m-my s-school report, and they…" She couldn't bring herself to say the rest, and instead let her broken sentence trail off into silence.

But Naruto wouldn't stand for that. "Yes, Kasumi? They _what_?" He verbally nudged her.

She found herself gritting her teeth, her jaw tight. "They felt the need to teach me a lesson."

"I see." His voice was dark. There was a pause where neither of them said anything and she was just turning back to her bowl of soup noodles, when he prompted, "And?"

_I hate you for being so insightful, sometimes;_ she griped bitterly, the feelings of humiliation and anger coming back tenfold. She hissed, her expression filled with self-disgust, "_And_ they beat me up. Thankfully I managed to return the favour to some of them. But I was pathetic! I w-would've thought that with all of the extra training I've been doing, I would've managed to keep them at bay, but _no... _And _then, __**then**_ I ran away like a cowar—"

"Kasumi." He had placed his hand on her arm and was looking at her warningly. She was about to ask him why he had interrupted her (especially since he had been so pushy in the first place) when she noticed that Teuchi, Ayame and the Hokage were looking at her, the same strange look shared on all their faces.

She ducked her head again, mumbling her apologies and proceeded to finishing her ramen. _Obviously I got louder than I meant to be._

When the adults' attention ceased to be trained on her, Naruto spoke up again. "Kasumi-chan, how many of Sasuke's fan girls were there?"

"Six."

"And you fought them off?"

She hesitated, shrugged; "If you can call what I did fighting them off."

"That's impressive. _You_ might be disappointed 'cause you got battered a little, but you defended yourself against six opponents.

"Of _course_ you're not going to be untouchable with such odds against you – we're not even genin, for goodness' sake – but I think the fact that you held your own is worth keeping in mind. You shouldn't be so harsh on yourself; just train harder for next time, ne?"

She nodded again, biting on her lip in an effort to hold back the tears that had sprung to her eyes. She didn't even know _why_ they had; she felt she had no real reason to want to cry.

"Hai…" _You're right, Naruto-kun._ "Thank you."

* * *

><p>I'm not entirely sure that there's much that people won't know, in this chapter... If I've missed anything out, feel free to give me a shout! ... Hey, that rhymes! Ha ha! <p>

Glossary

_iryō-nin:_ medical ninja 

Well, until next time! I would_ love_ to promise that it won't be so long until my next update... Well, hopefully it shan't be. ^^;


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